• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.211-222
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• 2011

The Mireuksaji stone pagoda was built foundation in the reign of King Moo (AD 639) in the Baekje Kingdom of ancient Korea. The stone properties of the pagoda were quarried from Mountain Mireuk, which are medium to coarse-grained light gray biotite granite formed during the Jurassic, and are composed of quartz, feldspar, biotite, muscovite, apatite and allanite. It was strong relatively but became weak from prolonged weathering, and as a result its durability fell to $883kgf/cm^3$ (moderate weathering degree). In the process, cut-off (31%), deletion (57%) and crack (44%) occurred in foundation materials by the influence of bending, shear and compressive force. Hereat, the original materials were treated through a preservation process. As a result, approximately 74% of original materials have been able to be reused, inclusive of 55 materials that were to be partially replaced by new stones. On the other hand, it is inevitable that the other 26% including exterior stones and support-based stones have to be partially replaced by new stones. It implies that there is a need to find stones that are identical or similar to those of the pagoda. Consequently, a lithological study was conducted on stones in quarries located in Iksan and an investigation was made into their properties. The results showed that stones in the Hwangdeung area were most similar to those of the pagoda mineralogically and their properties were most stable.