Title : Postage Stamp of Stone Pagoda Series (3rd Issue)
Stamp Serial#
 1096 
KPC#
 C-777 
MICHEL#
 1121 
StanGib#
 1322 
Scott#
 1123 
Date of Issue
 06/20/1978 
Quantity
 3,000,000 
Denomination
 20 won 
Design
 Tabo(Prabhutaratna) Pagoda at Pulguk-sa Temple 
Designer
 Kim, Sung Sil 
Image Area
 23mm×33mm 
Perforation
 13 
Sheet Composition
 5×5 
Paper
 White unwatermarked
Print
 Government Print and Mint Agency of the Republic of Korea 
Description
For the purpose of widely publicizing the traditional culture and wisdom of the people od Korea, at the same time imbuing the people's mind with the spirit of loving cultural properities, the Ministry of Communication has selected 10 outstanding items of stone pagoda, designated as national treasures, as themes of a series of postage stamps depicting historic stone pagoda to be issued this year on five occasions. The two following pagoda have been chosen for the third of the series:
1.Tabo Pagoda at Pulguk-sa (Temple).
National Treasure No 20. this pagoda, standing in front of the main hall of Pulguk-sa (Temple), is of a peculiar shape built during the period of Unified Silla (in the middle of the 8th century). It is 10.4m in height and the width of its foundation is 4.4m. The first story is a platform provided with four stone staircases, one for each of the four sides, leading up to an enclosed area which is presumed to have accommodated a Buddhist image, at one time. Only one of the four lions originally installed at each of the four corners of the foundation, has survived up to the present. Four heavy corner pillars support the next stage which is composed of a simple cornice of rounded beamlike blocks of grantite. Above this are three tiers of eight-sided units, each being supported by a pailing of stone. The second paling is patterned after bamboo stalks, complete with nodes carved realistically in the stone. The palings of the top story flare out to carry a morning-glory-shaped roof finial in a crown-ball-and-plate sequence.

2. Three-storeyed Pagoda at Pulguk-sa (Temple).
National Treasure No 21, this pagoda stands to the left of the entrance, opposite to Tabo-tap which stands to the right. It was built about the same time as Tabo-tap, and is 8.2m in height and 4.4m in the width of the foundation. "Sokk-tap", also called "Muyong-tap" (the pagoda that casts no shadow), according to a legend. This pagoda is composed of five units all together: a pedestal, three main stories and a tiny final story. The uppermost part of decoration, only a part of which had remained, was recovered recently. Especially noteworthy are the eight pieces of round stone materials, on each of which are carved lotus flowers, encircling the pagoda. "Sokk-tap" may well be considered the most typical and prodominant of all stone pagodas built during the Silla Dynancy, with its simplicity smoothly harmonized with solemnity in the overall structure.