Cheomseongdae
| Korean spelling | |
|---|---|
| Korean alphabet : | 첨성대 |
| Hanja : | 瞻 星 臺 |
| Revised Romanization : | Cheomseongdae |
| McCune-Reischauer : | Ch'ŏmsŏngdae |
The Cheomseongdae - observatory in Gyeongju (South Korea) is the oldest surviving observatory in East Asia. It was built during the reign of Queen Seondeok (who ruled from 632 to 647) and was used for star gazing to make weather forecasts. Each layer is made up of 12 stones, which probably symbolize the months. There are a total of 30 layers on top of each other; one for each day of the month. The observatory consists of a total of 366 stones.
Its base is 5.7 m long and 9.4 m high. The tower is filled with earth up to the opening on the south wall. Access was probably via a ladder from the outside. Inside there could have been a staircase to the upper platform. It is not clear whether the tower was used for astronomical observations or rather ritual or astrological purposes.
On December 20, 1962, the Cheomseongdae Observatory was named National Treasure Number 31. It was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list of Gyeongju Historic Sites in 2000 along with other sites in the Gyeongju area from the time of the Silla Kingdom .
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Coordinates: 35 ° 50 ′ 11 ″ N , 129 ° 13 ′ 18.3 ″ E