Trace of the Wooden Pagoda

When you stand in the center of the Mireuksa site where the wooden pagoda used to stand, you’ll be able to see that the pagoda site in the center is a bit larger than the ones on the sides. As you saw from the restored replica in the exhibition museum, the wooden pagoda here was bigger than the west and east pagodas.

However, all we have today are traces of the wooden pagoda. Based on evidence, we now think that the wooden pagoda was nine stories high. As mentioned before, the west pagoda was at least six stories high. And the roof stones that were excavated from the site of the east pagoda are believed to belong to the 7th and 9th floors. Based on these clues, we believe that the wooden pagoda was nine stories high. Another clue comes from Baekje’s neighboring kingdom of Silla.

The king of Silla invited a famous master craftsman of Baekje to construct a pagoda. The craftsman then constructed the Nine-story Wooden Pagoda of Hwangnyongsa Temple using the technology of Baekje. Based on this fact, we assume that the nine-story wooden pagoda was the common style of Baekje during the time.

So when was this pagoda lost? The history records that Mireuksa was struck by lightning in 719. Burnt charcoal, roof tiles, and soil were found near the wooden pagoda site. Since the pagoda was the highest building in Mireuksa, it probably suffered the most severe damage.