South Korea · KR

Mangtabong Three-Story Stone Pagoda, Yeongguksa Temple (Yeongdong)

On a small granite-topped rise called Mangtabong, about 500 metres east of Yeongguksa Temple in Yeongdong, stands one of Korea's most quietly unusual Buddhist towers: the Three-Story Stone Pagoda on Mangtabong Peak. Designated National Treasure No. 535 in 1971, this slender Goryeo-era monument is barely three metres tall, yet its setting on a living rock outcrop and its crisp, hand-carved proportions make it a favourite stop for stone-pagoda enthusiasts. What catches the eye is that the pagoda was not raised on a separately built platform. The masons simply smoothed the summit of a great slab of granite and carved the base directly out of the natural rock, then set the three tapering storeys of the tower straight on top of it. The result feels less like an object placed on the hill than one that grew out of it.