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  • Maee Mountain Deity

    Maee Mountain Deity Museum Entrance : This stonework shows an image of a mountain deity carved in low relief on the surface of an irregularly shaped boulder. In its center a long-bearded mountain deity sits on the back of a tiger with his legs crossed. The air of his divinity is strengthened by a celestial being playing a musical instrument, which is positioned symmetrically to balance the deity. In Korean folklore tradition the tiger has long been believed to be the king or deity of the mountains and been the object of belief and reverence. It has also frequently appeared both in oral tales and in paintings. Many Buddhist temples of the Joseon dynasty have a separate shrine dedicated to the mountain deity, which is symbolized by the image of the tiger while reflecting mutual influence between Buddhism and folk religion.

  • Stone Container

    Stone Container Main Garden : Stone containers, called ‘Seokjo’ in Korean, are used to put drinking water or to grow lotus flowers. Stone containers are also known as water containers, ‘Sujo’ or ‘Mulhwak’ if its size is small. This stone container located in Main Garden is well proportioned and decorated with fish on the body. It goes well with an earthen wall behind.

  • Stone Arabesque Aureole

    Stone Arabesque Aureole Main Garden : This boat-shaped stone aureole with a pointed apex and a flat and broad lower part is assumed to be part of a statue of a seated Buddha. The inside of the edges of the halo and the aureole around the torso is decorated with arabesques while its outside is with flame patterns. Aggressive and elaborate dexterity used here suggests that it dates from the United Shilla period.

  • Three-story Pagoda

    Three-story Pagoda Main Garden : This stone pagoda of the Goryo dynasty intactly possesses the three essential parts of a pagoda, which are the top, the body, and the base. The body is the central part of the pagoda surmounted on the base part, and it consists of roof stones and sub-bodies. Each sub-body is topped by a roof stone whose lower part is comprised of four linearly sculpted layers. On the surfaces of the hexahedral sub-bodies are sculpted pillar-like elements that resemble the columns of an old wooden architecture. The original use of a pagoda is to enshrine the relics (sarira) of a Buddha, and later it was also erected to house copies of the sutras and different consecrated objects offered to a Buddha.

  • Stone Lantern

    Stone Lantern Main Garden : In Buddhism Buddhas and monks are often honored with offerings of fire. In front of a Buddha image inside the hall of worship candles are lit while in the courtyards of temples stone lanterns are installed as votive lights. In other words, a stone lantern has a practical function to lit up the space around it and at the same time it is regarded as one of the Buddhist artifacts used for offerings as it contains a light apparatus. In general, a stone lantern consists of a lower stone, a middle stone, an upper stone, a stone compartment of fire, and a roof stone. The lower and upper stone of this lantern is sculpted in the form of an eight-petaled lotus, and its middle stone is of an octagonal pillar. The stone fire compartment has a so-called ‘fire windows’ to let light out, and the spaces between the windows are decorated with carvings of the Four Devas.

  • Turtle base of a stone monument

    Turtle base of a stone monument Main Garden : This is a tortoise-shaped supporting stone for a stone stele. A stone stele generally consists of a tortoise-shaped pedestal, a main stone part on which an epitaph is carved, and a roof part. The first example of this type of stone base can be found in the tombstone of King Taejong Muyeol of Shilla who laid the foundation for the unification of the Three Kingdoms. This particular pedestal is characterized by a strange proportion and exaggerative expression while setting it apart from the typical traditional aesthetics embodied by this kind of pedestals.

  • Stone Sheep

    Stone Sheep Small Garden : The stone sheep is one of the stone animals that guard tombs. According to Guk-jo-oh-rye (Book of Five National Ceremonies) of the Joseon Dynasty, stone tigers and stone sheep were to be installed inside the surrounding walls of a tomb: Two stone tigers were placed in the north and one stone tiger in both the west and the east, each of which was flanked by two stone sheep. Generally, the space among the four legs of a stone animal was not carved out and its two sides were decorated with reliefs of grasses. Yet in these particular stone sheep it is hollowed out. Among other atypical features are their awkward postures with their rear legs a little backward and their seemingly smiling faces.

  • Buksu

    Buksu Waldae. Near Plum Tree Grove : Stone figures such as these function as guardians of the village and are worshiped as objects of belief. Their function and religious significance is quite similar to those of totem poles, yet they are usually made of stone and can be found mainly in some regions of Choongcheong-do Province and the coastal areas in Jeonra-do Province and Gyeongsang-do Province. Generally, they form a couple and the ratio between the head and the body is abnormal. In spite of the lack of refined artistry, this pair of stone figures epitomizes the essence of the aesthetics of this kind of stone guardian figures, as their kindhearted, simpleminded and humorous facial expressions realized by their bulging eyes, stubby noses, and smiling or pouting l ips reflect the warmhearted and unsophisticated minds of people.

  • Jeju Stone Youngsters

    Jeju Stone Youngsters Waldae. Near Plum Tree Grove : Jeju stone youngsters are stone artifacts that are used in ancestral rites held before the grave to have them to escort and wait upon the dead. Its function is similar to the general stone youngster, yet a Jeju stone youngster is made of basalt reflecting the geological peculiarity of Jeju. A typical Jeju stone youngster has a round face with a bold head or braided hair, and its body is depicted in a simplified manner. It usually carries various objects in its hands, and among them are included a bird, a brush, a spoon, a spear and a mirror. This has a symbolic meaning of wishing a comfortable afterlife for the dead or of praying for good fortune for the descendants.

  • Stone Tigers

    Stone Tigers Near Bohwamun : As one of the stone guardian animal sculptures for tombs, it is installed inside the low-built walls around the graves together with stone sheep. Two stone sheep stood to both the east and the west, and two stone tigers to the north and one each between the pairs of stone sheep. All of them face outward. Their faces bear dissolutely mischievous smiles, but not without dignity or grace. Their crouching poses with somewhat arched shoulders can give a rather foolish impression, but again without amicable friendliness. They maintain decent and tidy postures by sprucing up their large statures tidily while their round lips are beaming and their large eyes seemingly are enjoying something funny. These particular tigers are characterized by the smooth curves that organically continue from their heads slightly drooped down through their backs to their tails.

  • Stone Civil Official Figures

    Stone Civil Official Figures Stonework Path : As one of the stone works used in a memorial service before the grave, a stone statue of a civil official is represented in the appearance of a civil minister. These statues were actively produced in the times of the Joseon dynasty although differences are detected in those of different periods. Those made from the early Joseon period to the second half of the 15th century are dressed in officials’ uniforms with coronets called ‘bokdu’ on their heads and scepters in their hands. This mode is called ‘Bokdugongbok’. In the 16th century two different modes were employed: one is the ‘Bokdugongbok’ mode; the other is called ‘Geumkwanjobok’, which refers to those sculpted as wearing the garments worn by the officials of the Joseon period for kings’ funerals for while holding scepters. The latter were popular in the second half of the 16th century. In the latter half of the 19th century both modes were used for the production of stone civil official figures.

  • Stone Military Official Figures

    Stone Military Official Figures Stonework Path : As stone civil official figures, stone military official ones functioned as guardians of tombs. They are represented in the appearance of military officials being mailed in armor with a sword at the side. A stone military official statue is rarely placed alone. It is generally paired with a stone civil official figure while being placed one step below the civil one. There are by large two forms of them. In the first half of the 16th century they were depicted in an unlikely military style with calmness and gentlemanliness: wearing a Joseon-style outer coat and a headpiece and holding the hilt of the sword with their both hands in a trim manner. By the second half of the 16th century, on the other hand, they showed a typical appearance of a military official: being clad in scale armor, and with big, daring eyes and a long beard.

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