Paekche Reliquary Discovered at the Stone Pagoda of Mirŭk Temple
Over 500 Important Artifacts Recovered Including a Gold Urn and its Dedication Record
The National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage (Director, Kim Pong-gŏn) announced the discovery made during the disassembly phase of the project to restore the stone pagoda of Mirŭk Temple (National Treasure No. 11) of a reliquary constructed for the welfare of the Paekche royal family. On 14 January 2009, over 500 artifacts, including a gold sarira relic urn, a gold dedication record, and silver crown ornaments, were recovered from a relic niche carved in the center of the upper surface of the base stone for the central pillar of the pagoda. The Institute plans to announce these findings to the public on the site of Mirŭk Temple at Iksan on the nineteenth of January.
The gold urn was placed in the center of the relic niche. Standing 13 cm high and measuring 7.7 cm in diameter at its shoulder, the urn was crafted in a shape of a small bottle covered by a lid shaped like a lotus bud. An x-ray analysis shows the inside of the urn to be dual-structured, with inner and outer compartments. The variety of patterns on the surface of the urn along with its fine craftsmanship clearly demonstrates the superior quality of Paekche metalwork.
The gold dedication record is a gold plaque measuring 15.5 cm in width and 10.5 cm in height on which characters were incised and colored in red for clarity. The record testifies that the queen of Paekche offered up her treasures as oblation to construct a Buddhist temple and in the ki-hae year (639) had sarira relics enshrined there to pray for the welfare of the Paekche royal house. By describing the purpose of erecting Mirŭk Temple and identifying its benefactress and the pagoda’s year of construction, the dedication record is a valuable artifact serving not only to fill in previously missing pieces in the historical record, but also to further studies on Paekche-period calligraphic styles.
As the artifacts discovered in the reliquary are hitherto unmatched in both quality and variety, with highly sophisticated, intricate craftsmanship and technique, they stand to be appraised as the most valuable of all national treasures.
The discovery of the Mirŭk Temple reliquary provides proof of the accuracy of the records in the Samguk yusa and Samguk sagi regarding the establishment of the temple and reveals something about the method and ritual associated with the enshrinement of relics in the Paekche stone pagoda. Moreover, the establishment of absolute dating of the buried artifacts makes possible the establishment of a chronology for other artifacts of the same period. As such, this discovery is arguably the most significant archaeological achievement made in former Paekche territory since the discovery of King Muryŏng’s tomb and the excavation of the large bronze censer at Nŭngsan-ni.
It is hoped that the discovery of the reliquary at Mirŭk Temple will help propel studies on Paekche culture onto a higher plane.
In the future, after the recovered artifacts have undergone treatment for preservation, there are plans to subject them to in-depth analysis, and the results will be made available to researchers and others with interest in the field.
Reported by Pae Pyŏng-sŏn and Nam Si-jin, National Research Institute for Cultural Heritage, Architectural Heritage Division.
23 January 2009
Contents of Sarira Niche
Gold Dedication Record
Gold Sarira Urn
Crown Ornaments
View of Central Pillar
A newspaper article (in Korean) is here.