Mireuksa Temple Site

미륵사지

The site of a temple founded under King Mu of Baekje. It has a plan found nowhere else: stone pagodas east and west with a wooden one between them, each with its own main hall behind it. The western stone pagoda is the oldest surviving stone pagoda in Korea.

Language

The west stone pagoda at the Mireuksa site at sunset: six tiers of stone roofs narrowing over a broad platform, a dark passage opening at the centre of the first storey, and the sun low on the right across the dry ground of the temple site

Place information

Korean name: 미륵사지
Address: 32-2 Giyang-ri, Geumma-myeon, Iksan-si, Jeonbuk State

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History

under King Mu of Baekje
A temple raised over a filled-in pond
The Samguk Yusa says the king and queen were on their way to Sajasa when the Maitreya triad appeared in a pond below Yonghwasan, and that at the queen's request the pond was filled and pagodas, halls and cloisters were built at three places.
the plan
Three pagodas, three halls
Stone pagodas stand east and west with a wooden pagoda between them, and each has a main hall behind it, the three sets divided by cloisters — a plan without parallel.
22 June 1966
Designated a Historic Site
The Mireuksa temple site in Iksan was designated a Historic Site.
2019
The west pagoda's restoration completed
The restoration of the west pagoda, whose collapsed rear had been shored up with concrete, was finally completed in 2019.
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: Mireuksa Temple Site, Iksan (designated 22 June 1966; the west pagoda's concrete reinforcement was finally replaced in a restoration completed in 2019) · Sep 5, 2026

What to see

The west pagoda

The stone pagoda in front of the western hall, the oldest surviving stone pagoda in Korea, built by translating the techniques of timber architecture into stone.

Nearby

Archaeological Site in Wanggung-ri

A site on the Iksan plain spanning the Baekje and Unified Silla periods. Several accounts have been handed down about it — a Mahan capital, King Mu of Baekje moving or duplicating his capital here, Anseung's Bodeokguk, Gyeon Hwon's Later Baekje capital — and excavation reads it as built across at least three periods. UNESCO lists it among the components related to the secondary Sabi capital.

Jeonju Hanok Village

Plan it as a walkable district rather than one attraction, combining one or two heritage sites with food, crafts, or a hanok stay.

Stories about this place

Mireuksa Temple Site, Iksan: Baekje's Three-Pagoda Plan and West Pagoda
Why Mireuksa, unlike other Baekje temples, was built with three pagodas and three halls, and the history of its west stone pagoda, including its restoration completed in 2019.

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