Seokguram Grotto

Seokguram is a hermitage belonging to Bulguksa temple, halfway up Tohamsan mountain in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. Its artificial grotto, assembled stone by stone from granite in the Unified Silla period, houses a seated Buddha. Together with Bulguksa it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995, and the grotto is a designated National Treasure. The Buddha in the round main chamber is regarded as one of the finest works of Korean Buddhist sculpture.

History: Seokbulsa, begun in 751

Construction was started by the minister Kim Dae-seong in 751, in the tenth year of King Gyeongdeok, and the grotto was completed in 774. It was originally called Seokbulsa, "stone Buddha temple". According to the Samguk yusa, Kim built Bulguksa for his parents in this life and Seokguram for his parents in a previous life. It was repaired several times in the Joseon period, including in 1703 and 1758. During the Japanese colonial period, in 1913–1915, the grotto was almost completely dismantled and reassembled; encasing it in concrete led to humidity build-up and leaks. A major restoration in the 1960s introduced mechanical systems to control temperature and humidity.

What to see

• The main Buddha: a seated Shakyamuni about 3.4 m high (sources differ: 3.4 or 3.5 m). The right hand touches the earth, the left rests in the meditation gesture.
• The halo illusion: instead of a halo attached to the head, a lotus roundel is carved on the back wall. The whole grotto is symmetrical except this roundel, which is said to be offset so that it looks perfectly round when seen from below.
• Reliefs in the rotunda: bodhisattvas, disciples and guardian deities are carved around the circular wall, with more figures in niches above. Of the original 40 figures, 38 remain.
• The domed ceiling: a hemispherical dome, covered with earth on the outside, over a round floor about 6.7 m across and 6.6 m deep. More than 360 stone slabs were used for the dome and the entrance corridor, fitted together without mortar.
• Tohamsan views: from the hermitage, ridge after ridge stretches towards the East Sea, and the sunrise here is well known.

From antechamber to rotunda

The grotto runs from a rectangular antechamber through a narrow corridor into the round main chamber. It lies about 3 km from Bulguksa at roughly 750 m above sea level.

• Antechamber: the walls show the Eight Guardian Deities, carved a little less finely than the figures inside.
• Corridor entrance: a pair of Vajrapani guardians holding thunderbolt clubs protect the entrance.
• Corridor: the Four Heavenly Kings, two on each side.
• Rotunda entrance and walls: Brahma and Indra, the bodhisattvas Manjushri and Samantabhadra, and the Ten Disciples of the Buddha line the circular wall.
• Eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara: directly behind the main Buddha, carved in noticeably higher relief than the others.
• Niches: ten small niches above the disciples each held a statue; two were taken away by Japanese in the late Korean Empire period, so eight remain.
  The Buddha is said to face the direction of sunrise at the winter solstice. The Samguk yusa tells how the ceiling capstone broke into three pieces while Kim Dae-seong was carving it, and a heavenly spirit came down at night to set it in place; the capstone really is split into three. The wooden building over the antechamber was added in the 1960s restoration, and historians still debate whether the grotto originally had such a structure.

Good to know

The "am" in Seokguram is often read as "rock", but it is actually the character for a small hermitage. Seokguram is the hermitage that contains the grotto; the cave with the Buddha and reliefs is called the Seokguram Grotto. India and China have many cave temples cut into cliffs, but a grotto built up from dressed granite like Seokguram is unique. It was designated a National Treasure in 1962. The crystal "urna" on the Buddha's forehead is a 1966 replacement made of Korean rock crystal backed with a gold plate, as the original was lost.

Tripto tips

• Admission: free since 4 May 2023. Parking costs KRW 2,000 for cars.
• Hours: open every day from 09:00; last entry 17:00 (Nov–Jan), 17:30 (February and October) and 18:00 (Mar–Sep). Access may be closed during heavy rain, typhoon or snow warnings.
• How you see it: the grotto is viewed through a glass wall for conservation, and photography inside is not allowed.
• Getting there: from central Gyeongju or the bus terminal, take bus 10, 11 or 700 to Bulguksa, then change to bus 12. From Singyeongju Station, bus 700 runs four times a day to Bulguksa. Buses from Seokguram back down to Bulguksa leave on the hour.
• From the car park: about 10 minutes on foot to the hermitage.
• Time needed: 40 minutes to 1 hour for Seokguram alone, half a day combined with Bulguksa. Pets are not allowed.