Koryŏ period (918–1392)

Traditional Korean architecture must have been similar to Tang architecture, which is best illustrated by the main hall of Nanchan Temple (782), Shanxi, China. The main hall of the Tōshōdai Temple in Kyōto, Japan, also is believed to be a good example of Tang-style architecture. In Korea the adaptation of the Tang architecture is called the chusimp’o style. It is characterized by the so-called column-head bracketing, or complexes of brackets that project above the heads or capitals of the columns, with or without intercolumnar struts (inclined supports). One of the best examples of chusimp’o architecture is the Muryangsu Hall (Hall of Eternal Life) of Pusŏk Temple. Dating from the 13th century, this is believed to be one of the oldest wooden structures in Korea.

About 1300 a new architectural style was introduced from Song China. Called tap’o (multibracket), it is characterized by intercolumnar bracketing in place of struts. Tap’o became the main style during the following Chosŏn dynasty. Built in the tap’o manner are the Pokwang Hall of the Simwŏn Temple and the Eungjin Hall of the Sŏkwang Temple, both of which are datable to the second half of the 14th century. The new tap’o buildings are much more decorative than those in the chusimp’o style because the intercolumnar brackets fill up the otherwise empty spaces between columns.

The early Koryŏ pagoda was executed in the Unified Silla style, although the roof stones were thinner and the number of eave corbels decreased to three or four. Then, after a short period, this style of pagoda changed drastically. The number of stories increased, the corbels on the roof stones became almost unrecognizable, and the height of each story was reduced. There are also towering octagonal pagodas as, for example, the one at Wŏlchŏng Temple. These were not revivals of the Koguryŏ type but a contemporary style imported from Song China.

Toward the end of the Koryŏ the building of pagodas virtually came to a halt. One exception is the 10-story (12-metre) marble pagoda built in 1348 for the Wŏngak Temple in Kaesŏng (now in the Kyŏngbok Palace, Seoul). The pagoda stands on a cross-shaped, three-tiered platform. Every architectural detail from roof tiles to the bracket system is painstakingly reproduced, and numerous Buddhist figures in relief cover the entire surface of the pagoda. This type of highly decorated pagoda with its unusual architectural features must have been based upon the ideas of Chinese stone architects of the Yuan dynasty (1206–1368).

Chosŏn period (1392–1910)

Many large palace and temple buildings are preserved from the Chosŏn period, particularly those rebuilt after the Japanese invasion of 1592. The chusimp’o, the column-head bracket style of the Koryŏ period, continued during the early part of this period. But the dominant architectural style of the Chosŏn period was the tap’o, or the intercolumnar bracket style. At least five large palaces in Seoul alone date from the beginning of the period. The largest and most important is the Kyŏngbok Palace, originally a complex of more than 100 buildings. The entire palace was burned down during the Japanese invasion in the late 1500s but it was reconstructed between 1865 and 1867. Kŭnjŏng Hall, the palace’s throne hall, built in the decorative tap’o style, is the largest throne hall in Korea. The largest wooden building in Korea is Chongmyo, the royal ancestral shrine, which was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995. Among temples, the main halls of Muwi Temple, Kaesim Temple, and Pongjŏng Temple belong to the early Chosŏn period, while the grand main hall of the Hua’ŏm Temple represents the later Chosŏn tap’o architecture. The only important Chosŏn pagoda is the marble pagoda (1467) in Seoul’s Pagoda Park.

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Architecture: The Built World

Modern period

The full impact of modern Western art began to be felt during the last decades of the 19th century, when Korea was forced to enter into treaties with foreign governments. In 1900 a British architect, at the request of the Chosŏn government, designed the Renaissance revival architecture called Sokcho Hall (Stone-built Hall) in Tŏksu Palace in Seoul. The stone building, which is now an annex of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, was completed in 1909. With the construction of Western-style buildings in Seoul came the need for European furnishings. Glass was used in some doors in the palace and certain public buildings, and from 1900 electric lamps were installed.

During the colonial period, most public buildings were constructed in Western architectural styles by the Japanese, the most notable example of which was the Chosŏn Governor-General’s Hall, constructed in 1926. This period also saw the emergence of the first generation of Korean architects, such as Gil-yong Park and Dong-jin Park.

Korean architects took on the task of reconstruction following the Korean War, and until the 1970s the trend in Korean architecture was to adopt International style. The prominent architects during this period were Jung-op Kim and Sukun Park. In the 1980s the variety of architectural projects expanded, leading to the adoption of postmodernism, including the reinterpretation of traditional Korean architecture.