Three-story Stone Pagoda in Ma-dong, Gyeongju

This stone pagoda is presumed to have been made in the late 8th century during the Unified Silla period (668-935). It is located at what is presumed to be the former site of Jangsusa Temple.

It consists of a two-tiered base, three sets of body and roof stones, and part of a decorative top. To emulate the look of a wooden building, the corners of the body stones and the corners and sides of the base are carved to look like pillars, and the underside of the roof stones are carved to resemble five-tiered eaves. On the corners of the roof stones, there are holes where a wind chime would have been hung. A square base is all that remains of the decorative top.

According to a legend in the Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms (Samguk yusa), Kim Dae-seong, an official of the Silla kingdom, hunted a bear on the nearby Tohamsan Mountain and then spent the night at the village at the base of the mountain. That night in his dream, the bear came to him and asked him to built a Buddhist temple in the bear’s honor. Kim then built two temples: one where he discovered the bear and one where he caught the bear. Jangsusa is where he caught the bear.

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