In 679, under threat of an invasion from China’s Tang Dynasty, the leaders of the Silla Kingdom founded Sacheonwangsa Temple, or “Temple of the Four Heavenly Kings,” on Nangsan Mountain in present-day Gyeongju. The construction of a temple dedicated to the Four Heavenly Kings, revered as the divine protectors of Buddhism, directly reflects the belief in Buddhism as the guardian of the nation. Excavated from the site of Sacheonwangsa Temple, these green glazed bricks with a design of the Four Heavenly Kings once adorned the platform of a pagoda. All four sides of the platform had a set of stairs in the middle, with three of these bricks on both the left and right sides of the stairs, for a total of twenty-four bricks. Each of the Four Heavenly Kings protects one of the four cardinal directions, so the arrangement of their images in groups of three is rather unusual.