A Wooden Soul in a Stone Body
The west stone pagoda at Mireuksa Temple is dry stone masonry, a building technique that uses no binding mortar. As the oldest and largest stone pagoda in Korea, it shows how Baekje Kingdom engineers (18 BCE–660 CE) translated their advanced woodworking skills into a different medium. The structure's design mimics wooden construction, featuring a low base and stone pillars resemble the wooden supports of the era. This transition from wood to stone was an important architectural development.
The engineering relies on two principles: immense weight and extreme precision. The pagoda is composed of 1,627 granite blocks, weighing a total of about 1,830 tons. Each block was shaped to interlock perfectly with its neighbors. The stability of the entire structure depends on the compressive force generated by gravity acting on these precisely fitted stones. Inside the first story is a massive central stone pillar, or simjuseok, which forms the core of the structure, with corner pillars providing additional support. This method allowed the pagoda to endure for centuries, even after its upper floors collapsed sometime during the 16th century.
A 20-Year Puzzle
By the early 20th century, the pagoda was in a state of near-collapse. In 1915, during the Japanese colonial period, a crude repair was made using 185 tons of concrete to brace one side of the structure. A structural safety inspection in 1998 revealed this concrete was failing and the entire pagoda was unstable. This led to one of the longest and most meticulous restoration projects in Korean history, lasting from 2001 to 2018.
The first decade of the project was spent just dismantling the pagoda and carefully removing the concrete patch. This deconstruction allowed archaeologists and engineers to study the original Baekje construction methods directly. During the disassembly in 2009, they made a remarkable discovery inside the central pillar of the first story: a golden plate. The inscription on the plate confirmed the exact date the pagoda was commissioned—639 CE—by the second wife of King Mu of Baekje. The restoration team used as many of the original stone blocks as possible, Achieving a structure composed of 81% original material. The pagoda was rebuilt to the six stories that remained, reaching a final height of 14.5 meters. It is believed the original structure had nine stories.