An Architectural Study on the Building Remains at the Site of Beopsusa Temple in Seongju - With a focus on the remains of Buildings No.2 and 3 -

성주 법수사지 건물지에 대한 건축적 고찰 - 2호, 3호 건물지를 중심으로 -

The two recent excavations at the site of Beopsusa Temple in Seongju revealed that it contained eight building remains, three pedestrian facilities, four drainage facilities, two walls, three embankments, and an estimated pagoda remain. Even though this investigation was restricted to some sections of the site, it confirmed remains of architectural significance and thus attracted the attention of concerned researchers. This study thus set out to make an architectural survey of the site based on the excavation results and examine the characteristics and nature of remains of Buildings No.2 and 3 at the site. The planar analysis results show that Building No.2 (Remains 2-2) at the site of Beopsusa Temple was a gable-roofed building with a single story including 6 kan(間) in the front and 4 kan(間) in the flank and that Building No.3 (Remains 3-3) was a single-story building with a hipped-and-gable roof including 5 kan(間) in the front and 3 kan(間) in the flank. The most noteworthy remain of this excavation was the north-south square platform discovered at the Building No.2 at the site. It is estimated as a high chair platform used for Buddhist sermons. It was confirmed only at the lecture hall remains of Hwangnyongsa Temple and Anyangsa Temple in the nation and had never been found at remains related to Chinese and Japanese Buddhist Temples, being regarded as a very important and unique artifact. Since it was found at the remains of Building No.2, they was estimated as the lecture hall remain at the site. Found at the remains of Building No.3 at the site, the oblong altar remains were also very unique and rare and never found at other Buddhist temple sites. The inside of oblong altar was evenly covered with roof tiles instead of rubble, and there were small crushed stones for internal division, which is an altar construction method distinctly different from its counterparts at other Buddhist temple sites. Those findings raise the possibility high that a wooden facility was put up at the top of oblong remains.