Three-story Stone Pagoda at Hwangboksa Temple Site, Gyeongju

This pagoda is said to have been constructed in 692 on the order of queen dowager Sinmok and her son King Hyoso(r. 692-702) to pray for a blissful afterlife for her husband King Sinmun(r. 681-692) of the Silla kingdom(57 BCE-935 CE). In 706, King Sinmun’s second son King Seongdeok(r. 702-737) enshrined relics and a statue of a buddha in the pagoda to wish for a blissful afterlife of previous kings, the prosperity of the royal family, and a peaceful reign.

The pagoda consists of a two-tiered base, three sets of body and roof stones, and a partially destroyed decorative top. When the pagoda was dismantled for repairs in 1942, a gilt-bronze reliquary, two Buddhist statues made of pure gold, glass beads, and many other artifacts were discovered inside the second-story roof stone. The year of the construction of the pagoda and the motives for its construction were recorded in detail on the inside of the reliquary lid.

Source: Korea Heritage Service signboard ↗ · collected 2026-10-08