Ten Storey Stone Pagoda from Gyeongcheonsa Temple

Marble is unusual for Korean pagodas, which are normally granite, and the choice reflects the taste of the Yuan dynasty in China, then the dominant power. An inscription records that the pagoda was built in thirteen forty eight at Gyeongcheonsa, a temple near the Goryeo capital of Gaeseong, with support from a court official connected to the Yuan imperial family. Look for the tiny figures under the eaves and the way each storey shrinks in proportion, giving the tower a graceful taper. The lower storeys can be seen up close, and the upper storeys from the balconies of the floors above.

The pagoda has had an eventful modern history. In nineteen oh seven a Japanese minister had it dismantled and shipped to Tokyo, causing an international outcry; it was returned in nineteen eighteen and lay in pieces for decades. It was reassembled in the courtyard of the old museum in Gyeongbokgung Palace in nineteen sixty, then suffered from acid rain and was taken down again in nineteen ninety five for ten years of conservation. When the new museum opened in two thousand and five it was rebuilt indoors as the centrepiece of the Path to History. A similar pagoda built a century later stands in Tapgol Park in central Seoul.

Did You Know? The pagoda was taken to Japan in nineteen oh seven and returned only after journalists and diplomats protested, making it an early cause in the story of returning cultural property.