Characteristics of Bulguksa(佛國寺) Daewoongjeon (大雄殿) ; The Structure of The Foundation

The main building in Buddhist temple is Daewoongjeon. It means Daewoongjeon, when we are talking about the tour on the temple.

Each Daewoongjeon has it’s own specific characteristics.
In this respect, Daewoongjeon of Bulguksa also has it’s own.

What I want to introduce at first on Bulguksa Daewoongjeon is it’s structure of the foundation.
The reason why I’d like to introduce this foundation of building is because of my personal experience.

While touring on cultural place, I was always happy when I found out tiny things.
Yes, the foundation of the building looks like tiny thing to the experts of archeology or architecture.

But that small discovery and realization have guided me to continue my journey for this posting.

The structure of Daewoongjeon is quite different from other temples which had been built after Shilla dynasty.

The first characteristic is Bulguksa Daewoongjeon has different stone foundation from that of other temples.

The structure of the foundation must’ve been changed with the dynasties.

Bulguksa was founded in Shilla dynasty. But the wooden structure was burned by Japanese soldiers during Japanese invasion 1592.

So only the foundation of stone could be survived.

May be the stone foundation of Bulkusa is the only Architectural structure of Shilla dynasty.

So we can compare this foundation with other dynasties.

Let’s find out the cases of other temples in detail.

At first, let’s talk about the case of the temple of Goryeo Dynasty.
Only a few buildings of Goryeo dynasty have been survived until today.
I had posted one of this building last year.

The name of the temple is Sudeoksa (修德寺).

Then let’s focus on the foundation of the temple.
The foundation was piled up with the stone bricks well-trimmed.

They are both looked similar that the foundation was made with the stones.

But the style of Bulguksa Daewoongjeon is different from that of Sudeoksa.

The stone of Bulguksa Daewoongjeon is not piled with the stone bricks.
The stone panels were attached on the surface of the foundation.

The style is looked like Seokgatap
Look at the foundation of Seokgatap pagoda.
The stone foundation of Seokgatap is as same as that of Daewoongjeon.

Yes, the style of architecture on the foundation is both similar.

This stone panel means that the foundations of both buildings are wooden style.

Then with a time passing, the wooden panel looked like to turn into the stone panel.

In this point, we could arrive at next conclusion that the Seokgatap was built after the wooden pagoda.

In other hands, the style of Choson Dynasty was quite different from Shilla and Goryeo dynasty.
The temple of Choson Dynasty could not be escaped from the influence of Confucian Philosophy.

The humble and simple life style was very important virtue in Confucian Philosophy.
Due to Confucian influence, the temple of Choson dynasty was built in humble style.

Below is SSanggyeosa temple which was posted last year

The foundation of stone bricks were not neat.

Look at the cornerstone untouched. But there is a secret in architectural technique.
I wish post this secret next chance.

Korean architectures look similar at first glance, but if you look at more carefully, you can find out the differences of each buildings bring you pleasure.

Thank you for reading.