East and West Three-story Stone Pagodas at Geumdangam Hermitage of Donghwasa Temple, Daegu

The two pagodas stand at both eastern and western sides of Geungnakjeon, the main hall of Geumdangam hermitage which belongs to Donghwasa temple. They show the same skills of masonry being typical of stone pagodas with a three -story body on a double-tiered base erected in the late Unified Silla period. These two pagodas exhibit the same masonry skills and well-balanced structure, but the base of the eastern pagoda is not in harmony with the proper work of masonry after the restoration, compared to the western pagoda. The body and roof of the eastern pagoda are made of a single stone block. The body has only a pillar-shaped sculpture at its corner, and the roof has a four-tiered base. Noban(square roof-shaped finial on the top of the pagoda), Bokbal(Reversed bowl-like object above the finial), Anghwa(lotus flower decoration on the top of the pagoda), and Boju(lotus bud decoration) are still clearly visible on the top of the pagoda. The structure of the western pagoda is almost same as that of the eastern pagoda, while only its Noban(finial) and Chalju remain intact on the top of the pagoda. When the pagoda was restored in 1957, a Sarira chamber and 99 miniature pagodas were discovered in the body of the first story.

Chalju : Central metal piece used to build the pagoda

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