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CultureGoryeo (12th–13th century; repaired 1363)

Geungnakjeon Hall, Bongjeongsa, Andong

The oldest surviving wooden building in Korea. A record of roof repairs in 1363 shows this Goryeo column-head-bracket hall was built well before then.

Geungnakjeon, Bongjeongsa, Andong — jusimpo brackets, gabled roof; the oldest wooden building in Korea
Geungnakjeon, Bongjeongsa, Andong — jusimpo brackets, gabled roof; the oldest wooden building in Korea

Steve46814 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source

A ridge-beam inscription found when the hall was dismantled for repair in 1972 recorded a major roof repair in 1363 (12th year of King Gongmin). Such repairs came some 100–150 years after construction, so the hall is thought to date from the 12th–13th century — the oldest wooden building surviving in Korea.

It uses the jusimpo style, with brackets (the joinery carrying the roof’s weight) only on top of the columns, a gabled roof shaped like the character 人 from the side, and entasis columns that swell in the middle. With Muryangsujeon at Buseoksa and Daeungjeon at Sudeoksa it is a staple of the exam’s Goryeo jusimpo halls.

It is a National Treasure, and Bongjeongsa became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018 as one of the "Sansa, Buddhist Mountain Monasteries in Korea".

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The map in 1200

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States and rulers at the time
Goryeo — Sinjong

Before and after

Earlier
1198 Manjeok’s Rebellion
Later
1200 Goryeo Mother-of-pearl Lacquerware

Themes that include this event

  • Changes in Architecture1200 – 1910

    From Geungnakjeon at Bongjeongsa to Seokjojeon at Deoksugung — Goryeo bracket styles, Joseon palaces, walls and multi-storey temple halls, and the Western buildings of the Korean Empire

  • AndongAD 930 – 1940

    From the Battle of Gochang that helped found Goryeo to Yi Hwang’s Dosan Seowon — home of Goryeo wooden halls and Yeongnam Confucianism