The dome of Seokguram
The ceiling of Seokguram is a stone hemisphere raised with nothing holding it together. Each stone presses against the next. Remove one and the neighbours fall; leave them all and each becomes the other's support. And the chamber faces where the sun rises over the East Sea. Even the angle of the first light was in the calculation.
| 첫째 단서 — 구조 | A hemisphere raised from stone with nothing holding it together. Each stone presses against the next. Remove one and its neighbours fall; leave them all and each becomes the other's support. |
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| 둘째 단서 — 목적 | It was built to house a Buddha figure. And the chamber faces where the sun rises over the East Sea. Housing it was the purpose, so the angle at which first light reaches that face was inside the purpose too. |
| 셋째 단서 — 질서 | The main chamber is a circle, the antechamber a square, and the same unit repeats through the proportions between them. Stacked by hand and by feel, proportions do not repeat like that. |
A thousand years ago, someone raised this with nothing holding it together.