Bunhwangsa Stone Brick Pagoda, constructed in 634, is Korea's oldest stone pagoda. As a prototype of the Silla Stone Pagoda, the pagoda was constructed using flagstones. Since it was constructed with flagstones, it has been known to be a pagoda that replicates the brick pagoda until now. The latest research suggests that it copies the India Stupa or the Stacked Stone Pagoda more than the Brick Pagoda. However, the Bunhwangsa stone brick pagoda has a significant difference in terms of construction technique and shape compared to Brick Pagodas, India Stupas, and Stacked Stone Pagodas. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to the stone building technique used in Silla. Through this study, I would like to clarify that the Bunhwangsa stone brick pagoda is a stone pagoda that creatively reflects the existing Silla stone building techniques such as stone fortresses and stone chamber tombs.

Recently, cultural heritages in South Korea gain many interests of restoration and preservation from the government since many of that have been severely damaged during earthquakes. Many previous studies in both terms of experimental and analytical approaches have been done to examine structural behavior and decide appropriate methods of preservation. Being motivated by such researches, this research aims to investigate a religious stone pagoda dated back to the Goryeo Dynasty in Korea. The structure consists of a granite stone foundation and baked bricks, which resembles the shape of traditional pagodas. In order to examine the structural behavior of the pagoda, an analytical model is implemented using ANSYS, a comprehensive engineering simulation platform. For the time history analysis of the pagoda, several earthquake excitations are chosen and input to simulation modeling. Seismic response of the tower such as time domain, natural frequency, modal shapes and peak acceleration measured at each layer are presented and discussed. In addition, the amplification ratio of the tower is calculated from the accelerations of each layer to determine tower stability in accordance with Korean seismic design guide. The determination and evaluation of status and response of the brick tower by simulation analysis play an important role in the preservation of history as well as valuable architectural heritages in South Korea.

The Bunhuangsa stone pagoda, constructed in AD. 634, National Treasure no. 30, has been named as 'brick-copied pagoda' since the Japanese-ruling period by scholars. It is said that the Chinese brick pagoda was its precedent model, however the Bunhuangsa Pagoda is the oldest of all the Chinese-style brick pagodas except one, the Sungaksa Pagoda. The Chinese pagoda cannot have been a precedent model to copy due to its complex detail of wood vestige, as the Bunhuangsa pagoda is simple form without ornament. Domestic brick pagodas cannot have been a precedent model to copy as well, because all the domestic brick pagodas are younger than the Bunhuangsa Pagoda. Therefore, the terminology 'brick-copied pagoda' is a fallacy; it is rather that later brick pagoda copied the precedent the Bunhuangsa stone pagoda. The Bunhuangsa Pagoda is simply a piled-up pagoda of thick or thin, big or small slates of stone, facing only one smooth side and therefore needing nothing to relate to brick. The originality of the pagoda is more related to simple piled-up Indian stone stupa rather than Chinese brick pagoda. The roof form of its gradually stepped projection comes from the harmika of the summit of Indian stupa. Contrary to general history, old Silla Dynasty imported Buddhism directly from India by sea. From written national history and by temple foundation history, the Indian Buddhism evangelist possibly made influence to the erecting of temple and pagoda. The original wrong terminology has made a harmful effect gradually to the naming of mass-styled stone pagoda of only carved stepped-roof form after brick-copied pagoda. The false term 'brick-copied pagoda' should be discarded, which comes with superficial observation based on toadyism to China and colonialism to Japan. Instead of the fallacious term, this paper suggests multi-storied ‘piled-up pagoda with slate stone.'

Bricks are the earliest man-made building materials. Small-size bar bricks were found in use in the Warring States Period(戰國時代) in China. During the Qin(秦) and the Han(漢) Dynasties, brick constructions were built on a larger scale, but most of them were tombs. In case of Korea, bricks were found in use in the Three Kingdoms Period, but also most of them were tombs. Starting from the Unified Silla Period(統一新羅時代), brick gradually became a universal practice to built Buddhist Pagodas with bar bricks. Brick pagodas emergence marked a stage where technological progress made it possible for man to built high-rise brick work, and their dvelopment further perfected masonry technique and enabled building technology to attain new heights. Though from the very start brick pagodas existed side by side with stone pagodas, at the enitial stage they were overshadowed by their wooden counterparts and stone counterparts, because masonry thechiques were then still rather primitive, while woodwork and stonework had already reached a fairly advaced stage. The pagodas in ancient Korea were closely related to the Chinese stupa, which consisted of three parts, namely, the base, the body and the spire. The fact was, soon after the stupas were introduced into Korea, the Korean stupas began to develop features of their own. Korean brick pagodas were made up of a single-storeyed square base, multi-storeyed square body with a small gate, and a steel post with several layers of lotus flower superimposed one on the other.

안산암을 벽돌 모양으로 다듬어 쌓아 올린 경주 분황사 모전석탑은 현재 남아있는 가장 오래된 신라시대 석탑이다. 석탑에서 나타나는 손상양상은 백색피각, 흑색피각, 변색, 토양흡착 등의 오염물, 생물서식, 보수물질 등이다. 구조적 요인에 의한 손상양상으로 배부름 현상이 나타난다. X-선 회절분석 결과에 의하면 백색피각의 주 구성광물은 방해석(CaCO₃)과 서모나트라이트(Na₂CO₃⋅H₂O)로 자연 상태에서 쉽게 나타나는 증발잔류광물이다. 석탑에 나타나는 손상양상은 각 부위별로 상당히 다르다. 생물서식은 기단, 사자상, 1층과 2층의 옥개석에서, 보수물질은 기단에서 확인된다. 배부름 현상은 1층 탑신에서 나타난다. 전체적인 손상 유형별 점유율은 생물서식, 오염물, 보수물질이며 그외 배부름 현상, 박리 순으로 높게 나타났다. 가장 높은 점유율을 보인 개별 손상양상은 흑색미생물(39.3%)이며, 다음은 지의류(17.9%), 변색(8.0%), 백색피각(5.5%), 시멘트 모르타르(5.1%), 배부름 현상(3.9%), 박리(3.1%) 순으로 나타났다.