Work / monument · monument

Cheomseongdae

7th century · 7th century

Cheomseongdae is a stone tower at Gyeongju, South Korea, the capital of Silla, traditionally dated to the reign of Queen Seondeok in the seventh century. About nine metres tall, it has a bottle-shaped body of granite courses with a square window halfway up. It is often described as the oldest surviving astronomical observatory in East Asia, though its exact use is debated.

Cheomseongdae
Image: Basile Morin · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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SillaImpact

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Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Cheomseongdae. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/cheomseongdae
MLA
“Cheomseongdae.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/cheomseongdae. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Cheomseongdae.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/cheomseongdae.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Cheomseongdae’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/cheomseongdae (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻