What it was
According to the Samguk Yusa, Seokguram was begun in 751 under the Silla chief minister Kim Daeseong and completed by the court in 774 after his death — the same account given for its sister temple, Bulguksa. A rotunda assembled from fitted granite blocks holds a serene 3.5-meter seated Buddha facing the sunrise over the East Sea, ringed by reliefs of guardians, disciples, and an eleven-headed Avalokitesvara.
Role
Built on the ridge of Mount Toham above Bulguksa, it served as a royal devotional monument and stands as the summit of Silla stone sculpture.
Fate
The grotto was long preserved by its engineered ventilation. Early twentieth-century colonial-era repairs sealed parts of it in concrete and disturbed the original moisture control, causing lasting conservation problems; today it is climate-controlled and viewed through a glass screen. With Bulguksa it became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995, and it remains Korea’s most treasured single work of Buddhist art.