Hwangnyongsa Temple Site

Only huge foundation stones remain in an open field. Yet on this spot once stood a nine-storey wooden pagoda thought to have reached about 80 m. Hwangnyongsa was the largest temple of the Silla kingdom, built over 93 years as a national project, and its site still gives a sense of its enormous scale.

History: a royal temple on a palace site

In 553 King Jinheung was building a new palace east of Wolseong when he heard that a yellow dragon had appeared there, so he turned the project into a temple: Hwangnyongsa means "Yellow Dragon Temple". In 574 it received the Jangyuk statue, a Buddha more than 5 m tall. Legend says it was cast from gold and iron that King Ashoka of India had shipped away after failing to make a statue himself, and that the boat finally reached Silla.

In 643 the monk Jajang, back from Tang China, urged the building of a nine-storey wooden pagoda to ward off foreign enemies, and the Baekje master builder Abiji completed it in 645. Each storey is said to have stood for a nation threatening Silla. The pagoda and the Jangyuk statue were two of Silla's three national treasures. In 1238, however, the Mongol invasion burned the whole temple to the ground.

What to see

• The pagoda site: the rows of massive stones in the middle of the field mark where the pagoda stood. Estimates of its height vary between about 68 m and more than 80 m.
• The statue pedestals in the Golden Hall: north of the pagoda, in the site of the main hall, large stone bases that once held the Jangyuk statue remain.
• The temple layout: the middle gate, pagoda, main hall and lecture hall stood in a north–south line, enclosed by corridors. Walking from stone to stone makes the size of the temple tangible.
• Hwangnyongsa History and Culture Center: next to the site, a 1:10 scale model of the nine-storey pagoda helps you imagine the real thing.

Good to know

• Excavations since 1976 have uncovered about 40,000 objects, including gilt-bronze Buddhas, earrings and glass. A 182 cm roof-end ornament shows how large the buildings were.
• A reliquary from the base of the pagoda's central pillar records repairs made in 871. It was stolen in 1964 and later recovered.
• Gyeongju Tower in Gyeongju Expo Park has the silhouette of the pagoda cut into its facade.

A temple built on a filled-in marsh

Hwangnyongsa stood on land reclaimed from a marsh. At first its gate, pagoda, main hall and lecture hall stood in a single north–south line, but once the Jangyuk statue and the pagoda were added the plan changed to one pagoda with three golden halls. A bell pavilion and a sutra pavilion faced each other on either side of the pagoda, and the bell pavilion held a giant bell cast in 754, which seems to have vanished during the Mongol invasion.

Legend says the Silla painter Solgeo painted a pine tree on the wall of the main hall. A Tang Chinese white porcelain jar found at the pagoda site shows the close ties between Silla and Tang China.

Tripto tips

• Time: 30–60 minutes for the site, about 90 minutes with the History and Culture Center.
• Combine it with: Bunhwangsa Temple is right next door, and Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond, Cheomseongdae and Daereungwon are close by.
• Best time: the field has almost no shade, so morning or late afternoon is more comfortable than a summer midday.
• Please note: the foundation stones are protected heritage, so do not stand on them.