Andong Beopheungsaji Seven-Story Brick P… | Attraction Guide

The Andong Beopheungsaji Seven-Story Brick Pagoda is the largest and oldest seven-story brick pagoda from the Unified Silla period in Korea, standing 17m tall with a base 7.5m in size. The area is called Beopheung-ri, suggesting it was built at Beopheungsa Temple (法興寺) from the Unified Silla era. The pagoda was reconstructed in 1487 (18th year of King Seongjong's reign). The base is a single story with a square floor plan, currently featuring eight Buddhist guardian deity (Palbujung) or Four Heavenly Kings (Sacheonwang) reliefs on granite panels, six on each side, and a central staircase on the south side. The style of these sculptures shows differences in production dates and disorderly arrangement. The upper surface of the base is slanted and rounded with cement, leaving doubt about how much of the original form is preserved, as it is unusual for so many carvings to be arranged on a single-tier base's side. The pagoda body is built by overlapping dark grey bricks about 28cm long, 14cm wide, and 6cm thick in a staggered manner. The first-story body is very tall, with a small granite shrine room (gamshil) bordered on the lower southern middle side. The interior narrows spindle-shaped upward, with a square hole 48cm wide at the top (appearing as a pillar hole, chaljugong). The second story is about one-quarter the height of the first, and the rate of height reduction for the third story and above is mild, giving the seven-story structure overall stability. The roof stones (okgaeseok) display the pagoda's unique form, with stepped eaves that are horizontal; their width is significantly reduced compared to stone pagodas. The number of underlying supports decreases from 9 to 3 from the first to the higher stories, and the number of stepped layers on top ranges from 12 to 5, gradually tapering upward. A small part of the drainage slope seems to have been tiled. There was likely a wooden pagoda first, with this brick pagoda modeled after it. Only the exposed platform remains of the upper finial now, but records from Yeonggaji mention a "Beopheungsa Brick Pagoda" located "5 ri east of the prefecture," presumed to be this pagoda. Historical descriptions noting a gilt bronze finial suggest the original finial was made of gilded bronze.