Seven-story Brick Pagoda at Beopheungsa Temple Site, Andong

Basic information

Designation

National Treasure No.16

Category

Sites & Pagodas

Era

통일신라시대 8세기

Designated year

1962

Location

안동시, 경상북도— 경북 안동시 법흥동 8-1번지

Coordinates

36.565975, 128.746392

Standing 17m tall, the Seven-story Brick Pagoda at the Beopheungsa Temple Site is the largest and oldest brick pagoda remaining in Korea. Given that the name of the site where the pagoda stands is Beopheung-ri, it is assumed that the pagoda used to belong to Beopheungsa, a Buddhist temple built during the Unified Silla Period. The pagoda’s body stands on a single-story platform, and is made of firmly cumulated bricks. Eight Guardian Deities and Four Guardian Kings are carved out of granite on each side of the pedestal, while on the southern side there is stairway leading to the niche in the body of the first floor. Unfortunately, the upper side of the platform is now cemented. The body is made of dark gray bricks without patterns, and there is a niche at the center of the first floor in which a Buddha statue would have been enshrined. The roofstone has a mark that shows there were roof tiles on its upper side, which is very different from common brick pagodas whose upper and lower roofstones are staircase-shaped. Though the pagoda is a high seven-story pagoda, it looks very stable. Considering that there is the mark of roofing tiles on the roof, it is estimated as a material that proves that the brick pagoda was built by imitating the appearance of wooden pagodas.

Location