• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.38
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• pp.305-327
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• 2005

Although the stone pagoda in Mireuk Temple site, Iksan, Cholla Province has been collapsed long time ago, few historical record has clearly explained the reason why the pagoda was collapsed and when. The west side of the pagoda have been destroyed from top to the sixth floor and the broken or damaged stone materials have been piled up in disorder. the lower part in the west was reinforced and enclosed by a stone embankment levelled to the height of the first storey of the pagoda. With no record informing the historical fact when it was made and by whom, it is only presumed that the embankment may have been built long time ago in order to prevent remains from further destruction. In the second chapter of the study, it has been tried to restore a reasonable historical background of the pagoda based on records or comments found in literatures such as traditional poetry and essays in chronological order. The collapsed slope in the west side, just above the embankment surrounding the lower part of the pagoda, was concreted in 1915 during the Japanese colonial period. Then in 1998, the Jeollabukdo has examined the structural safety of the pagoda. The Cultural Properties Committee has decided have the concrete layer removed and moreover to take apart the whole pagoda. It is also included that the disassembled stone materials should be given proper conservation treatments before being put into the place where they were in the reassembling process. The front view of the collapsed phase of the pagoda was revealed when the concrete-covered layer was removed. A hypothesis was built that there may be as many different appearances of collapsed pagoda depending on natural causes such as earthquake, sunken foundation, flood and typhoon. In chapter three, characteristic features were classified by examining various images of pagodas destroyed by different natural reasons mentioned in historical records. The chapter four dealt with comparison and analysis on the conditions shown in the stone pagoda in Mireuk Temple site and other examples studied in advance. The result of the study revealed that though having been made higher than the ground surface, the podium or the base of the pagoda actually has been eroded by rain and water. The erosion is supposed not only to have been proceeded for a long time without break but also to have caused the first storey body stone in the west inclined to outward. It has come to a conclusion that the pagoda may have been lead to collapse when the first storey body stone, supporting the whole weight from the upper storeys, became out of upright position and lost its balance. However, no such distinctive features of structural changes shown in pagodas collapsed by natural causes like earthquake, typhoon or sunken basement, have been found in the stone pagoda in Mireuk Temple site.