Seokguram

The Seokguram is an affiliated grounds of the Buddhist temple Bulguksa near the Korean city of Gyeongju, the ancient capital of the Silla Kingdom. It is situated on the summit of the mountain Tohamsan approximately 745 m above sea level and overlooks the Sea of ​​Japan.

History

The construction of the artificial grotto was begun at the peak of the Silla culture in 751 and completed in 774.

During the Neo-Confucian Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), Buddhism fell sharply in importance and the sanctuary fell into oblivion. Trees and shrubs overgrown the entrance, vaulted parts collapsed.

It was not until 1909, the cave was rediscovered and under Japanese rule ( 1910-1945 ) began a partially improper restoration.

In the years 1961-1966 was carried out by the Korean government under Park Chung -hee a comprehensive restoration. For climate regulation and as a protection against the stream of visitors to the cave entrance was sealed with a glass plate and built out a wooden building as an entrance area.

1962 Seokguram was declared the South Korean National Treasure No. 24 and recorded along with the 4-km downhill situated Bulguksa Temple in the list of World Cultural and Natural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 1995.

Architecture

The artificial cave consists of precisely hewn granite blocks and is divided into three chambers. The sequence of rooms follows a thoughtful, metaphysical concept. Through a rectangular antechamber and a narrow corridor leads into an inner circular main chamber with a dome. The diameter of the circular building is between 6.58 m and 6.84 m.

The rectangular antechamber and the narrow corridor symbolize the earthly. They serve to protect the inner sanctuary, and the faithful should coincide. Here are represented guardian spirits, gate and guardians of the world. These beings are yet to corruptible, earthly world. They are subject to the law of the acting action (karma) and are tied to the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

The round inner chamber symbolizes the celestial, on their walls are Arhats and Bodhisattvas shown. These beings are already redeemed and no longer tied to the cycle of rebirth. The center of the sanctuary is under the artificial heavens seated on a lotus throne Buddha. The Buddha statue is 3.45 meters high and shows Siddhartha Gautama in the lotus position, his left hand rests in his lap, his right hand is on her right knee, with fingers pointing downward. With this hand position ( mudra Bhumisparsa literally touching the ground) the earth is called as a witness for previous earnings and underlined the imperturbability of Buddha.

The special feature of the " Grotto" is that the Buddha statue was originally free and should be surrounded by a protective structure. To avoid that the statue would be disturbed during construction of the protective structure through falsework, the dome was vaulted with a unique method. The curvature of the dome of the stones threatened to fall inwards. Therefore stones were inserted with a counter weight in the individual layers, which preserved the neighboring stones before Nachinnenfallen. The higher the dome vault was bricked, the more counterweight was needed. The counterweight stones are at the top trimmed so that they are shaped like a nail head and thus the neighboring blocks can hold back in the layer. In the top center ensures a capstone the vault. The vault was sealed with a thick layer of clay and poured, so it acts like a built into the mountain cave.