• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.80-109
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• 2020

The Sacheonwangsa Temple in Silla is an esoteric temple that was founded provisionally in 670, and was completed in 679. This study attempted to elucidate the planning method of the Sacheonwangsa Temple based on the results of research on excavations and investigations into its construction processes and construction measures thereof. The research results are as follows. (1) In the site construction, assuming the size of one Bang (坊) on the south of Nangsan Mountain, after dividing the north-south width into three equal parts, there is a possibility that two of these parts were set to the flat portion. (2) In the 'Jochang (祖創, 670)', it is estimated that an area of 300 cheoks by 300 cheoks was postulated on the flat surface, and, as an initial conception, the mandala's plane design of the outer square 2 hasta (3 cheoks) and inner square 1 hasta (1.5 cheoks) was originally devised for the setting of 'Mudra (神印)', and an area 100 times greater has been set as the basis in the scale and layout planning of the central block. (3) During 'Gaechang (攺刱, ~679)', it is judged that because of the narrowness of the distance between the Pagoda and Geumdang Hall, which occurs when the center of the Geumdang Hall coincides with the center of 'the first stage of the foundation (先築基壇)', the scale and layout planning were adjusted from the initial conception. (4) The arrangement of the building was determined by dividing the fixed size of the central block (280 cheoks by 320 cheoks). Specifically, the east-west direction is set on the quartile's line of the east-west width of the central block, and in contrast, the north-south direction is based on the structural characteristics of the central block. It is presumed that the position of the transept was determined through the division and adjustment of the column spacing of the east-west corridor, then the Geumdang Hall and Altar were based on this. (5) The scale of the Geumdang Hall and Pagoda is determined by the petition of the division by the unit fraction starting from the quartile's line of the central block's east-west width. This planning is understood to be based on the self-similarity, which is rooted in the mandala's plane design as the model.