Qualla: Hwangnyongsa https://qualla.com/hwangnyongsa en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:39 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/y/7/g/hwangnyongsa-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Hwangnyongsa https://qualla.com/hwangnyongsa Hwangnyongsa: Introduction https://qualla.com/hwangnyongsa/ Photo credit Abasaa, Public domain. A dragon changed the plan. In 553 AD, King Jinheung of Silla intended to build a new palace on a plain encircled by mountains near his royal compound at Banwolseong. But when a dragon was reportedly seen at the site, the king took it as a sign and commissioned a temple instead. That temple, Hwangnyongsa -- the Imperial Dragon Temple -- would take nearly a century to complete and would stand for six more centuries after that, its nine-story wooden pagoda rising 80 meters above the Gyeongju skyline as the tallest structure in East Asia. Today, nothing remains above ground but the foundation stones. They are enormous.

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Image: Abasaa | Public domain

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/y/7/g/hwangnyongsa-wp/wy7g-hwangnyongsa-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Hwangnyongsa: A Martyr's Foundation https://qualla.com/hwangnyongsa/ Photo credit Ronnie Dayo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Hwangnyongsa owes its existence to a political gamble that ended in blood. Buddhism arrived in Silla to fierce resistance from the aristocratic class, who saw the foreign religion as a threat to their power. The king's Grand Secretary, Ichadon, devised a scheme: he forged the roy...

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Image: Ronnie Dayo | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/y/7/g/hwangnyongsa-wp/wy7g-hwangnyongsa-a-martyrs-foundation.mp3 0:06 2 full Hwangnyongsa: The Tower That Touched the Sky https://qualla.com/hwangnyongsa/ Photo credit 고려, CC BY 4.0. Construction began in 553 and was not fully completed until 644 -- a span that bridged the reigns of multiple kings. The famous nine-story pagoda, commissioned by Queen Seondeok after the main temple complex was already finished, was the crowning achievement. Built entirely of wo...

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Image: 고려 | CC BY 4.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/y/7/g/hwangnyongsa-wp/wy7g-hwangnyongsa-the-tower-that-touched-the-sky.mp3 0:06 3 full Hwangnyongsa: Center of a Kingdom's Faith https://qualla.com/hwangnyongsa/ Photo credit Historiographer, CC BY-SA 3.0. For centuries, Hwangnyongsa served as the spiritual heart of state-sponsored Buddhism during the Silla and Unified Silla eras. Monks prayed here for the welfare of the nation, asking for the divine protection of the Buddha on behalf of the kingdom. The temple complex was arranged...

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Image: Historiographer | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/y/7/g/hwangnyongsa-wp/wy7g-hwangnyongsa-center-of-a-kingdoms-faith.mp3 0:06 4 full Hwangnyongsa: Fire and Absence https://qualla.com/hwangnyongsa/ Photo credit Eggmoon, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1238, Mongol armies swept through the Korean Peninsula, and Hwangnyongsa burned. The pagoda that had dominated Gyeongju's skyline for nearly six centuries was reduced to ash and memory. No wooden architecture from the Silla period survives anywhere today, making Hwangnyongsa's...

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Image: Eggmoon | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/y/7/g/hwangnyongsa-wp/wy7g-hwangnyongsa-fire-and-absence.mp3 0:06 5 full