Giwa raises the value of the buildings of Silla

News provided by

The Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage

Jun 30, 2022, 08:46 ET

GYEONGJU, South Korea, June 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage(the GNRICH) released a news article series on the 30th reporting the architectural culture and lifestyles of Silla. In this episode, the article deals with Giwa.

After the Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage started an extensive excavation research related to Gyeongju Wolseong since 2014, where royal palace site of Silla is located, a lot of precious relics have been excavated, which show cultural aspects of Silla people. Giwa, a roof tile, is one of them, telling diverse historic information about architectural culture and lifestyle of Silla people.

The historic academia has been estimating that Giwa might have been used when building royal palaces or temples, during the period when Silla was leaping into a centralized state after establishing laws and officially recognizing Buddhism as a national religion.

There is also a Giwa on which chronological era is engraved. A Giwa on which Chinese character called "Euibongsanyeongaeto" is written was discovered during the excavation. "Euibongsanyeon" means 679 A.D., the nineteenth year of King Munmu.

There is also a Giwa on which occupation name is engraved. It is a Giwa on which a letter "Jeonin" is written, and this letter is presumed to have called people who worked at administrative office which supervises the process of producing Giwa or potteries.

In the early periods of producing Giwa, Giwas of Silla was heavily influenced by those of Baekje and Goguryeo. However, various Giwas with unique styles were produced and used later on.

On Giwas excavated at Wolseong frequently appear lotus patterns. Other than lotus patterns, diverse patterns can be found such as Sajamun, Bosanghwamun, and Gareungbingamun which expressed an imaginary bird appearing at Buddhist scriptures.

Also, there is Gwimyeon Giwa which was made to drive away evil spirits, hung on the angle rafter of Paljak roof (Gambrel roof) or Gwimaru (the corner of the roof).

Giwa not only protected buildings from sunlight and rain but it functioned as a decoration which enhanced the value of buildings. It is a precious material which shows the lifestyle of Silla people 1,500 years ago.

Website: https://nrich.go.kr/english/index.do

SOURCE The Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage