Songgwangsa Sacheonwang Gate, Suncheon

Basic information

Designation

Treasure No.2254

Category

Architecture

Era

조선시대

Designated year

2024

Location

순천시, 전라남도— 전라남도 순천시 송광사안길 100 (송광면)

Coordinates

No precise coordinates are available, so this item is not shown as a map marker. To be added later.

This English description was machine-translated and may contain inaccuracies. Refer to the original Korean text for details.

The Four Heavenly Kings Gate (Sacheongwangmun) of Songgwangsa Temple in Suncheon has no precise record of its original construction, but the 'Songgwangsa Sacheongwangmun Ridge-beam Inscription (1612)' and a ridge-beam ink inscription discovered during repair work in 2004 confirm that it was rebuilt in 1612 (the first year of King Gwanghaegun). The gate survived the great fire of 1951 that swept through Songgwangsa Temple, and its clearly established construction date gives it high historical and scholarly value. The Sacheongwangmun is a 3-bay-front, 3-bay-deep, multiple-bracket gable-roof building with two interior columns and five-purlin framing. It stands in a picturesque natural setting alongside the Uhwa Pavilion atop an arched stone bridge over the stream Sinpyeongcheon, forming a harmonious landscape. Inside the gate, octagonal-section deep interior pillars structurally reinforce the main beams and delineate the realm of the Four Heavenly Kings statues, expressing distinctive regional architectural design. The bracket system employs two interior and two exterior cantilevers; on the outer end, the first and second bracket arms are of the curved-beam type, the third is the three-divided-head type, and the fourth is the cloud bracket type; on the inner end, the intercolumnar bracket sets use flat-head type for the first and second arms, cloud bracket for the third, and cap-block type for the fourth. The outer bracketing style displays the concise yet robust architectural character of the mid-Joseon period. Built in the early seventeenth century, the Sacheongwangmun retains its original location and form, and continues the lineage of Four Heavenly Kings Gate construction associated with the Buddhist monks Buhyu Seonsa and Byeogam Gakseong.