The Stone Lantern Artifact Theft at Gyeongju Cheongwansa Site... Police Investigation

Cultural Heritage Administration: "We Will Expand the Establishment of Advanced Disaster Prevention Systems"

A stone lantern artifact was stolen from the site of Cheongwansa Temple in Gyeongju, a Unified Silla period temple site (Historic Site No. 340). The Cultural Heritage Administration reported on the 11th that after the 2001 excavation, it was discovered that the upper and lower base stones of the stone lantern, which had been buried underground according to cultural heritage preservation standards, had disappeared, and they requested a police investigation. The upper base stone refers to the component placed on top of the stone lantern's pillar, and the lower base stone refers to the component supporting the bottom of the stone lantern. The lost artifact is estimated to have been made in the 8th to 9th centuries.

The Cultural Heritage Administration will conduct a preservation management status survey at historic sites in the four ancient capitals (Gyeongju, Gongju, Buyeo, and Iksan) in response to this incident. Based on this, they plan to develop improvement measures. An official stated, "To manage historic sites where it is difficult to have permanent security personnel, we will expand the establishment of advanced disaster prevention systems such as the Internet of Things and intelligent closed-circuit television (CCTV)." They added, "We will also expedite the research on 'Solo Cultural Heritage Continuous Management and Theft Tracking Technology Development' being promoted by the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage."