In October 2015, deep inside the valley of Micheongol in Seomyeon, Yangyang-gun, Gangwon-do, lay the Seonrimwonji temple site.
At this location, believed to be the monks' quarters, a mysterious metal mass covered in mud and thick blue-green corrosion emerged.
It took a full five years from that moment before the true identity of this artifact, which initially looked like just another ancient fragment of a Buddha statue, was finally revealed.

The Cultural Heritage Conservation Science Center took over the artifact and began conservation treatment. However, removing the corrosion tangled with mud was far more difficult than imagined.
Because the gilded layer was tightly adhered to the bronze rust, the painstaking process of peeling away the corrosion layer by layer under a microscope alone lasted for over four years.
And finally, on the pure golden surface that emerged, the researchers discovered something unexpected.
The delicate brushstrokes drawn in ink by an artisan more than 1,100 years ago—detailing the eyebrows, eye lines, pupils, and even the beard—remained perfectly intact.

As the largest standing gilt-bronze bodhisattva statue from the Unified Silla period with a clearly documented excavation site (measuring 66.7 cm including the pedestal and mandorla),
combined with its rare completeness, featuring both an ornate mandorla and pedestal,
this artifact has been evaluated as a discovery that rewrites the history of Unified Silla Buddhist sculpture.

In recognition of its value, the Korea Heritage Service designated this artifact as a Treasure in December 2024.

Its official name is the Gilt-Bronze Standing Bodhisattva from the Seonrimwonji Temple Site in Yangyang.

In Mug Museum, we closely examine this gilt-bronze standing bodhisattva housed in the National Chuncheon Museum across two episodes.
Episode 1 explores how to appreciate this bodhisattva statue and highlights the aesthetic beauty of Unified Silla Buddhist sculpture.
Episode 2 looks back at the scientific analysis, digital restoration, and the grueling struggles of researchers to restore the fragments from the pile of mud to their perfect original form.

Meet the face that pierced through eleven centuries to come back to life, in the video below.

Reported by So Hwan-uk | Produced by Lee Mi-sun | Edited by Kim Hye-ju | CG by Ahn Jun-seok, Jung Yu-min | Filmed by Moon Jeong-do, Jang Se-won | Produced by Knowledge Contents IP Team | Provided by National Chuncheon Museum