Pyongyang, November 19 (KCNA) -- A reconstruction of Ryongthong Temple is now
under way in Korea.
The temple is directly connected with Ui Chon, who was a famous Buddhist priest
of Koryo and founder of Chonthaejong, the main sect of Buddhism in Korea at that
time.
Ui Chon was born in 1055 as the fourth son of Mun Jong, the 11th King of Koryo, and died in 1101. Ui Chon left the royal palace for the temple to take tonsure at the age of 10 in 1065. He studied Buddhist classics for 35 years as a priest and founded Chonthaejong in Korea. When the reconstruction project is completed, the temple will provide a clear testimony to the architectural history of Koryo, the first unified state in Korea.
The research group including the archaeological institute of the Academy of Social Sciences and the office for the study of the architectural history of Pyongyang University of Construction and Building Materials finished the design for its reconstruction on the basis of survey of the temple site at the foot of Mt. Ogwan in Ryonghung-ri, Kaesong, and historical data related to it. It was designed in such a way as to represent the appearance of the temple in the period before and after 1065, that is the second phase of the history of its culture as it was verified by the relics unearthed there as the best architecture in those times.
The temple has a plottage of over 40,000 square metres. It is divided into a main temple, northeastern tomb and northwestern structure. There will appear scores of buildings of temple architectural style belonging to the period of Koryo. Its total floor space is over 2,800 square metres. An able construction group is in charge of the project.