Abstract
The findings of a 2017 safety inspection of the Three-story Pagoda from the Goseonsa Temple site in Gyeongju suggested the possibility that the stone for the second story of the pagoda may have been rotated after the pagoda was disassembled for removal from its original site in 1975. The materials from the pagoda were investigated using photographs and other relevant data from both the Japanese colonial period and from around 1975. The analysis found that the materials of the pagoda were not changed after analleged reconstruction in 1943, but that during the process of relocating the pagoda in 1975 the body of the second story was indeed rotated counter clockwise by 90 degrees and one of the four stone elements making up the first-story roof was exchanged with a part from the second-story roof. In order to discover whether the materials had been incorrectly placed, each part of the pagoda was precisely measured and the elements of the roofs were virtually reconstructed using 3D scanning data. The investigation did not find any singularities with in the components of each roof; the four part sof the first-story roof were 75 to 76 centimeters thick and those for the second-story roof were 78 to 79 centimeters thick. The connections between each part of the roofs also appeared natural. This seems to indicate that there was indeed an undocumented repair of the pagoda at some point between its creation and 1943 and an error that took place during this repair was corrected in 1975. In addition, the study suggested a possibility that the body of the second story was rotated counter clockwised to a change in the locations of parts of the two roofs.
2017년 실시한 경주 고선사지 삼층석탑의 정밀안전진단 과정에서 1975년 석탑 이전 시 2층 탑신석이 회전되었을 가능성이 제기되었다. 이에 일제강점기와 1975년 해체 전후의 관련정보와 사진자료 등을 수집하여 석탑부재에 대한 정밀조사를 진행하였다. 분석결과 1943년 개건 전·후에는 부재의 변동이 없었으나 1975년 이전과정에서 2층 탑신석이 오른쪽 방향으로 90도씩 회전하였고, 1층과 2층의 옥개석 1매가 서로 바뀌었음이 확인되었다. 이러한 석탑부재의 변동이 오류인지를 확인하기 위해 3차원 스캐닝 정보를 토대로 정밀계측과 옥개석 부재의 재구성 등을 통해 검증해 보았다. 검증결과 현재 1층 옥개석 4매의 두께는 75~76cm, 2층은 78~79cm로 특이점이 발견되지 않았고, 옥개석 간 연접선의 형상 역시 자연스러웠다. 이에 고선사탑은 조성이후부터 1943년 사이에 중수(重修)된 숨은 연혁이 존재하며, 고대에 발생한 오류를 1975년 바로잡은 것이라고 결론지었다. 아울러, 2층 탑신석의 회전은 옥개석 위치변동에 따른 부수적 조치일 가능성을 제시하였다.