Jeongnimsa Temple Site

정림사지

The site of the principal temple of Sabi-period Baekje. The temple is gone; a five-storey stone pagoda from Baekje and a seated stone Buddha from Goryeo remain, and the north-south axis running from the middle gate past the pagoda and hall to the lecture hall is still legible across the open ground.

Language

The open ground of the Jeongnimsa site with the five-storey stone pagoda standing at the right, its wide thin stone roofs stepping outward at each storey, a low iron rail around its base, the outlines of building platforms showing low in the earth, and the village visible beyond the wall behind

Place information

Korean name: 정림사지
Address: 254 Dongnam-ri, Buyeo-eup, Buyeo-gun, Chungcheongnam-do

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History

538-660
The principal temple of Sabi Baekje
This is the site of the central temple of the period after Baekje moved its capital to Buyeo.
1028
A roof tile that names the temple
A tile excavated at the lecture-hall site carries an inscription naming Jeongnimsa in the eighth year of Taiping — 1028, the nineteenth year of King Hyeonjong of Goryeo — which is how the name is known.
the plan
A straight axis, and a trapezoidal cloister
The middle gate, the five-storey pagoda, the main hall and the lecture hall stand on one straight north-south axis, wrapped by a cloister. Unusually, that cloister is not square but trapezoidal, wider across the north.
26 March 1983
Designated a Historic Site
Designated as a Historic Site covering 61,449 square metres.
1993
A shelter for the stone Buddha
A building was put up to shelter the seated stone Buddha made in the Goryeo period.
2015
Inscribed as World Heritage
Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as one of the eight sites making up the Baekje Historic Areas.

Korea Heritage Portal — Historic Site: Jeongnimsa Temple Site, Buyeo (designated 26 March 1983, 61,449 m2) · Sep 5, 2026

What to see

The five-storey stone pagoda

A stone pagoda raised under Baekje, still standing in the middle of the site. With the temple gone, it is what marks where the axis ran.

Nearby

Buyeo National Museum

The national museum for the finds of Sabi-period Baekje, which gives the gilt-bronze incense burner a hall of its own.

Nakhwaam inside Busosanseong from above at an angle: the hexagonal Baekhwajeong pavilion on the wooded clifftop, grey rock dropping away beneath it toward the Baengma River, and a timber viewing deck fixed to the cliff face

Busosanseong Fortress

A mountain fortress wrapping Busosan on the south bank of the Baengma River. It guarded the palace after the court moved to Sabi and defended the capital until Baekje fell. Nakhwaam cliff and Goransa temple stand inside it.

Naseong City Wall

An 8 km wall raised to protect the Sabi capital. Taking Busosanseong as its centre, it runs east and west along the natural terrain around the outside of the Buyeo townscape. It was built of earth, and only slight traces of it remain today.

Buyeo Royal Tombs

Seven Baekje tombs on the south slope of Neungsan, set in two rows front and back. The ground has long been known as royal tombs, and finds from the temple site west of them reconfirmed it as a royal burial area. UNESCO lists it as the royal tombs in Neungsan-ri; the name the Korea Heritage Service uses today is Buyeo Royal Tombs.

Stories about this place

Jeongnimsa Temple Site: Baekje Pagoda and Layout
The Baekje-era five-storey stone pagoda and Goryeo stone Buddha that survive at the Jeongnimsa temple site, and how the temple's original layout can still be traced across the empty ground.

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