관음성지 양양 낙산사 복원불사에 관한 고찰

Abstract

This paper explains the restoration process of Nak-San Temple after its destruction by a wild fire in 2005. It will include the description of how the faith, history and geographical charateristics of the Temple were appraised and understood to be reflected as an elementary step in the planning of the reconstruction. It will also show how the placement of temple structures and building style were determined. Understanding of the characteristics was based on the scriptures, historical records and other existing literary materials, and the placement of structures and building style were decided based on the past archeological findings, the old painting of Nak-San Temple and the existing buildings. The decision was made by the advisory commission for the restoration of the Nak-San Temple buildings, which was delegated by the Cultural Heritage Administration. The advisory commission decided to refer to the third stage, which is the oldest, among the past archeological findings for restoration of the main Avalokitesvara building, and to the late Chosŏn period (prior to 1800s) findings for the work on the living quarters, and to the painting by Kim Hong-do of the temple for the placement of these structures. With such basis, the buildings were constructed taking into consideration the top-level architecture primarily from the Youngdong region in the 15th to 16th centuries. However, in practice, there were problems as it was pointed out that the column and staired stone of main Avalokitesvara building were constructed differently from the original plan and that there were tensions and issues regarding the decision on the placement of the sun-greeting pavilion. It was also shown that in the process of surveying the historical materials for the restoration the decisions based on the uncertain archeological findings and unilateral reliance on Kim Hong-Do's painting was a wrong one in light of Kim Yoo-Seong and Kim Ha-Jong's paintings and other literary materials. It is also revealed that many literatures falsely record the construction of the fence of the main Avalokitesvara building to have occurred in 1468 and that it must have existed at least before the mid-13th century. Furthermore, it is argued that as the current frontal fence did not exist in the materials prior to 1953, it was wrong to record the entire fence as local cultural heritage and that this needs correction. The author further proposed the reformation of the top part of the inclined stone, improvements on certain parts of the roofs, and the installation of firewall in the exposed structures and additional work on the connection of the sun-greeting pavilion and sound pavilion. Lastly, the author hopes that this paper will contribute to improving the Korean Buddhism's past practice of not leaving behind detailed materials about its temples.