The Korean people, who created fine cultural heritages including the Koryo celadon which was famous as the world-wide treasure in the period of Koryo, gave full play to national wisdom and talents also in stone sculpture.
The stone sculpture of the Korean ancestors, who created the stone sculptures high in formative and artistic representation by skillfully processing the hard and massive stones, reflect high national disposition and indomitable spirit of the Koryo people who inherited the wisdom and bravery of Koguryo, a millennial powerful country in the East and built a unified kingdom on this land.
The fine stone sculpture in the period of Koryo can be evidenced by pagodas and monuments erected at that time.
The monument to Taegakkuksa (highest title awarded to a priest) at the Ryongthong Temple located in Ryonghung-dong, Kaesong City, is on a pedestal in the shape of an imposing tortoise with its four legs planted on the base stones firmly and the neck craned forward. The patterns of p
The Koryo Museum in Kaesong has the 7-storey pagoda of the Hyonhwa Temple and the monument to the Hyonhwa Temple that show the stone sculpture in the period of Koryo.
The pagoda is large in scale and majestic and sturdy in form, and lots of Buddhist images carved in each storey give an impression of exquisiteness and vividness. The head of the monument of Hyonhwa Temple vividly portrays nine dragons wriggling in the clouds. A gold crow and white rabbit symbolic of the sun and the moon are wonderfully represented at the upper part of the front side of the body. The two wriggling dragons sculptured on both sides of the body are lifelike, outstanding in its rhythmic representation.
The sculpture of dragon’s head in the Suchang Palace, one of the architectural decorative sculpture in the period of Koryo represents the head of a dragon, while its body parts are concealed by clouds and water. Its head with fierce look, pricked-up ears and raised scales gives the impression that the dragon is about to rush out, revealing its powerful stout body.
The stone sculpture made by the creative efforts of the Koryo people further inspires the Korean people with the national pride, self-confidence and patriotism.
