Mireuksa Temple Site

The Mireuksa Temple Site in Iksan is the ground of the largest Buddhist temple of the Baekje kingdom, founded under King Mu, and it holds the Mireuksa Stone Pagoda, the oldest and largest stone pagoda surviving in Korea. Today only the pagodas and building foundations stand on a wide lawn, but the row of two pagodas and the site of a wooden pagoda between them gives a clear sense of the original scale. In 2015 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Baekje Historic Areas.

History: a temple built on a drained pond

The Samguk Yusa relates that King Mu (r. 600–641) and his queen saw a Maitreya triad appear from a large pond below Yonghwasan, and had the pond filled in to build the temple. For centuries the queen was identified with Princess Seonhwa of Silla from a popular legend. But in January 2009, while the pagoda was being dismantled, workers found a gold plaque recording the enshrinement of relics. It states that a Baekje queen, daughter of the high minister Sataek Jeokdeok, funded the temple and enshrined the relics in 639, and the founding story had to be rewritten.

What to see

• Mireuksa Stone Pagoda (West Pagoda, National Treasure): 14.24 m high, with six storeys surviving. It translates the posts and brackets of timber architecture into stone, which helps us imagine Baekje's lost wooden pagodas. On the ground floor a passage leads to a central pillar.
• East Pagoda: a nine-storey, 27.67-metre pagoda rebuilt in 1993 from records and excavation data. Comparing it with the west pagoda helps you picture the original size.
• Temple layout: a wooden pagoda in the centre and a stone pagoda on each side, each with its own main hall behind it, as if three temples stood side by side, a layout unique to Mireuksa.
• Flagpole supports (Treasure): a pair of stone pillars to the south that once held a pole for banners on festival days.
• Iksan National Museum: next to the site, it displays the relic plaque and reliquary objects found in the pagoda.

A story worth knowing

Records suggest part of the west pagoda had already collapsed before the 17th century, and in the Japanese colonial era the damaged side was shored up with concrete. Dismantling and repair began in 1998, and after more than twenty years of work the concrete was removed and the pagoda was rebuilt, opening to the public in 2019.

Words engraved in gold

The relic plaque is a sheet of gold engraved with Chinese characters on both sides, the strokes filled with red lacquer, a technique reserved for important objects. It records that the queen enshrined the relics on the 29th day of the first month of the gihae year, praying for the king's long life and the peace of the realm; the date corresponds to 639. As a founding record written by Baekje people themselves, it caused a stir among historians.

The lost wooden pagoda and a long afterlife

A nine-storey wooden pagoda is said to have stood at the centre of the temple, and tradition credits it to the Baekje master builder Abiji. Records also say King Jinpyeong of Silla sent craftsmen to help with the work. The temple outlived Baekje by centuries: a record says the monk Hyego opened the pagoda in 922, and roof tiles from the site bear dates such as 980, 1267, 1317 and 1330. Sixteenth-century texts still described the stone pagoda as the largest in the East.

The museum's makeover

The museum next to the site opened in 1997 as the Mireuksa Site Relics Exhibition Hall. After becoming a national institution it moved into a new building and reopened as Iksan National Museum in January 2020.

Part of the Baekje Historic Areas

The site spreads across a wide plain on the southern foot of Mireuksan, about 430 m high. In July 2015, at the World Heritage Committee meeting in Bonn, Germany, it was inscribed as one of the eight Baekje Historic Areas, together with Gongsanseong Fortress and the Songsan-ri tombs in Gongju, the Gwanbuk-ri site with Busosanseong Fortress, the Neungsan-ri tombs, Jeongnimsa Temple Site and the Naseong city wall in Buyeo, and the Wanggung-ri site in Iksan.

Tripto tips

• Hours and fees: the temple site is open all year and free. Iksan National Museum is closed on Mondays and on 1 January; sources give different opening hours, so check its website.
• Time needed: allow 90 minutes to two and a half hours for the site and the museum.
• Best time: the site has little shade, so midsummer middays are hot; spring and autumn afternoons are best for walking.
• Combine with: the Wanggung-ri Archaeological Site, part of the same World Heritage property, is a short drive away.