King Gyeongdeok

King Gyeongdeok (r. 742–765) was the 35th monarch of Silla, a son of King Seongdeok and the younger brother of King Hyoseong. He took the throne in 742 after Hyoseong died without an heir, and his reign is regarded as the political and cultural high point of Unified Silla. The building of Bulguksa Temple and the Seokguram Grotto began around this time, and the casting of the Divine Bell of King Seongdeok—commissioned to honor his father—was also started under his rule, epitomizing the flowering of Silla's Buddhist culture.