South Korea

The representative temple of Silla Buddhism at the foot of Mount Tohamsan in Gyeongju, rebuilt in the 8th century by chief minister Kim Dae-seong in filial piety to his parents of this life, paired with Seokguram Grotto built for his parents of a previous life. It preserves the Dabotap and Seokgatap stone pagodas along with National Treasure stone stair-bridges, inscribed together with Seokguram as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.

UNESCO World Heritage Site (Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple, 1995), Historic Site (South Korea)385 Bulguk-ro, Jinhyeon-dong, Gyeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do (chân tây núi Tohamsan)

Photo: Arian Zwegers, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

The Dharma Jewel Temple among the Three Jewel Temples of Korean Buddhism on Mount Gayasan in Hapcheon County, founded in 802 during the reign of King Aejang of Unified Silla by the monks Suneung and Ijeong. It preserves the complete 81,258 woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana carved between 1236 and 1251 under the Goryeo dynasty inside the 15th-century Janggyeong Panjeon depositories, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.

UNESCO World Heritage Site (Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon, 1995), UNESCO Memory of the World (2007), National Treasure of South Korea122 Haeinsa-gil, Gaya-myeon, Hapcheon-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do (sườn tây nam núi Gayasan)

Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

The oldest and most authentic royal Confucian ancestral shrine in East Asia, located in Jongno District, Seoul, founded in 1394 by King Taejo Yi Seong-gye of the Joseon dynasty and rebuilt in 1608. The complex features the 101-meter-long Main Hall (Jeongjeon) with 19 spirit chambers housing 49 tablets and the Hall of Eternal Peace (Yeongnyeongjeon) with 16 chambers housing 34 tablets of Joseon kings and queens, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.

UNESCO World Heritage Site (1995), UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (Royal Ancestral Ritual and Music, 2001), National Treasure of South Korea157 Jong-ro, Hunjeong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul

Photo: Daderot, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons

The primary state Confucian shrine (Munmyo) and supreme national academy (Sungkyunkwan) of the Joseon dynasty in Jongno District, Seoul, founded in 1398 under King Taejo. Arranged with the shrine in front and academy behind, it preserves the Hall of Great Achievement (Daeseongjeon) rebuilt in 1602, the Lecture Hall (Myeongnyundang) rebuilt in 1606, a pair of 500-year-old ginkgo trees (Natural Monument No. 59), and the semi-annual Seokjeon Daeje rite honoring Confucius and the sages.

National Historic Site of South Korea No. 143 (1964), Treasure of South Korea, Natural Monument No. 59 (pair of ginkgo trees)31 Seonggyungwan-ro, Myeongnyun 3-ga, Jongno-gu, Seoul (hoặc 25-1 Seonggyungwan-ro)

Photo: GN Coordinator, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

The cathedral church of the Archdiocese of Seoul dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Jonghyeon Hill in Myeongdong, Jung District, Seoul, begun on August 5, 1892 and consecrated on May 29, 1898. Designed by Paris Foreign Missions Society (MEP) priests Eugène Coste and Victor Poisnel in Gothic Revival style using red and gray brick with a 45-meter bell tower, it enshrines the relics of Korean Martyrs in its crypt and was designated National Historic Site No. 258 in 1977.

National Historic Site of South Korea No. 258 (1977)74 Myeongdong-gil, Myeong-dong 2-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul (đồi Jonghyeon)

Photo: Asacyan, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

A masterpiece of East Asian Buddhist stone architecture perched at 565 meters near the summit of Mount Tohamsan in Gyeongju, begun in 751 by Chief Minister Kim Dae-seong in filial devotion to his parents of a previous life and completed in 774. Beneath an engineered granite rotunda dome sits the monumental Bonjonbul statue of Sakyamuni Buddha in the earth-touching mudra gazing toward the East Sea amid thirty-eight carved reliefs of bodhisattvas, arhats, and guardians, designated National Treasure No. 24 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.

UNESCO World Heritage Site (Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple, 1995), National Treasure of South Korea No. 24 (1962)238 Seokgur-ro, Jinhyeon-dong, Gyeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do (sườn đông đỉnh núi Tohamsan)

Photo: myllissa from Seoul, S. Korea, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

The Buddha Jewel Temple standing first among the Three Jewel Temples of Korean Buddhism at the southern foot of Mount Yeongchuksan in Yangsan, founded in 646 by Master Jajang Yulsa to enshrine corporeal relics and robe fragments of Sakyamuni Buddha brought back from Tang China. Uniquely, its Daeungjeon main hall houses no indoor Buddha statue, opening instead through rear glass windows onto the outdoor Geumgang Gyedan (Diamond Precept Platform) stupa containing the relics, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Sansa monastery in 2018.

UNESCO World Heritage Site (Sansa, Buddhist Mountain Monasteries in Korea, 2018), National Treasure of South Korea No. 290 (Daeungjeon and Geumgang Gyedan)108 Tongdosa-ro, Habuk-myeon, Yangsan-si, Gyeongsangnam-do (chân nam núi Yeongchuksan)

Photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

The Sangha Jewel Temple among the Three Jewel Temples of Korean Buddhism, nestled on the western valley slope of Mount Jogyesan in Suncheon, where National Preceptor Bojo Jinul established the Samadhi and Prajna Community between 1197 and 1205. Revered for producing sixteen successive National Preceptors enshrined inside Guksajeon Hall (National Treasure No. 56), the monastery is designated National Historic Site No. 506 and remains a premier Seon meditation Chongnim of the Jogye Order.

National Historic Site of South Korea No. 506 (2009), National Treasures No. 42, No. 43, and No. 56 (Guksajeon Hall)100 Songgwangsaan-gil, Songgwang-myeon, Suncheon-si, Jeollanam-do (sườn tây núi Jogyesan)

Photo: The Chosun Bimbo, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

A historic stronghold of Maitreya devotion nestled in the valley of Mount Songnisan in Boeun County, founded in 553 under King Jinheung of Silla by the monk Uisin after returning with Buddhist scriptures carried on a white mule. It preserves Palsangjeon (National Treasure No. 55, rebuilt 1605 to 1626), Korea's sole surviving five-story wooden pagoda, alongside the Twin Lion Stone Lantern (National Treasure No. 5), the Stone Lotus Basin (National Treasure No. 64), and a 33-meter gilt-bronze Maitreya Buddha, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Sansa monastery in 2018.

UNESCO World Heritage Site (Sansa, Buddhist Mountain Monasteries in Korea, 2018), Historic Site No. 503, National Treasures No. 5, No. 55 (Palsangjeon), and No. 64405 Beopjusa-ro, Songnisan-myeon, Boeun-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do (chân tây nam núi Songnisan)

Photo: Carl MiKoy (https://www.flickr.com/photos/carlmikoy/), CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

The founding head monastery of Korean Hwaeom (Avatamsaka) Buddhism perched on the southern slope of Mount Bonghwangsan in Yeongju, established in 676 by National Preceptor Uisang under King Munmu of Silla and named after the legendary Floating Stone of Lady Seonmyo. Rising atop nine tiers of dry-stone terraces overlooking the Sobaeksan mountain ranges stands Muryangsujeon (Hall of Infinite Life, National Treasure No. 18, rebuilt in 1376), celebrated for its entasis timber columns and east-facing clay Seated Amitabha Buddha (National Treasure No. 45), inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Sansa monastery in 2018.

UNESCO World Heritage Site (Sansa, Buddhist Mountain Monasteries in Korea, 2018), Historic Site No. 504, National Treasures No. 17, No. 18 (Muryangsujeon), No. 19, No. 45, and No. 46345 Buseoksa-ro, Buseok-myeon, Yeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do (sườn nam núi Bonghwangsan)

Photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

The head temple and administrative heart of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism right in central Jongno District, Seoul, tracing its modern urban lineage to Gakhwangsa (1910), relocated and raised as Taegosa in 1938, and renamed Jogyesa in 1954. Framed by a 500-year-old lacebark white pine (Natural Monument No. 9), an ancient scholar tree, and a ten-story stone sarira pagoda, its courtyard serves as the vibrant national epicenter of the UNESCO-inscribed Yeondeunghoe Lotus Lantern Festival each spring.

Head Temple (Chongbonsan) of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, Seoul Tangible Cultural Heritage No. 127 (Daeungjeon), Natural Monument No. 9 (White Pine of Jogyesa)55 Ujeongguk-ro, Gyeonji-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul

Photo: Ken Eckert, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

A twelve-hundred-year-old Buddhist sanctuary resting at the foot of Mount Sudosan directly across from the skyscrapers of COEX in Gangnam District, Seoul, founded in 794 by Master Yeonhoe as Gyeonseongsa and renamed Bongeunsa in 1498 as a royal guardian temple for King Seongjong's tomb. Once the mid-16th-century examination seat that revived Joseon Seon monasticism under Master Bowoo, it preserves the 1856 Panjeon woodblock hall bearing the final calligraphy plaque of Kim Jeong-hui alongside a 23-meter stone Maitreya Great Buddha.

Treasures of South Korea No. 321 (1344 silver-inlaid bronze incense burner) and No. 1819 (1651 wooden seated Buddha triad), Seoul Tangible Cultural Heritage No. 83 (Panjeon plaque), No. 84 (Avatamsaka woodblocks), and No. 425 (Panjeon Hall)531 Bongeunsa-ro, Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul (chân nam núi Sudosan)

Photo: kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Korea's foremost Joseon Neo-Confucian academy set along the forested slope of Mount Yeongjisan overlooking the upper Nakdong River in Andong, originating with Dosan Seodang built personally by Master Toegye Yi Hwang (1501 to 1570) in 1561 and expanded into a chartered academy by his disciples in 1574 to 1575. Ascending along a learning-in-front and shrine-behind axis from Yi Hwang's modest study hut to Jeongyodang Lecture Hall and Sangdeoksa Shrine, it is designated Historic Site No. 170 and a UNESCO World Heritage Seowon (2019).

UNESCO World Heritage Site (Seowon, Korean Neo-Confucian Academies, 2019), National Historic Site No. 170 (1969), Treasure No. 210 (Jeongyodang Lecture Hall, 1963), and Treasure No. 211 (Sangdeoksa Shrine and Gate, 1963)154 Dosanseowon-gil, Dosan-myeon, Andong-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do

Photo: Uriah923 at English Wikipedia, Phạm vi công cộng, Wikimedia Commons

A national Catholic pilgrimage sanctuary crowning the rocky riverside bluff of Jamdubong above Yanghwajin Ferry on the northern bank of the Han River in Mapo District, Seoul, where thousands of Korean Catholics were beheaded during the Byeongin Persecution of 1866, giving the cliff its name Jeoldusan (Beheading Mountain). Completed in 1967 to a design by architect Lee Hee-tae featuring a circular sanctuary roof shaped like a traditional woven gat hat, its relic crypt enshrines the remains of twenty-seven canonized saints and one unknown martyr within National Historic Site No. 399.

National Historic Site of South Korea No. 399 (Yanghwajin Ferry and Jamdubong Remains, 1997), Vatican-recognized Seoul Catholic Pilgrimage Site6 Tojeong-ro, Hapjeong-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul (mỏm đá bờ bắc sông Hán)

Photo: Michael Sean Gallagher from London, United Kingdom, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

A landmark Romanesque-Byzantine brick church with three copper-clad domed towers standing at the southern gateway to Jeonju Hanok Village, built between 1908 and 1914 under Father Francois-Xavier Baudounet to blueprints by MEP architect Father Victor Poisnel and consecrated in 1931. Raised directly upon the execution ground outside Pungnammun Gate where Korea's first Catholic martyrs, Blessed Paul Yun Ji-chung and Blessed James Kwon Sang-yeon, gave their lives on December 8, 1791, it is designated National Historic Site No. 288.

National Historic Site of South Korea No. 288 (1981), Jeonbuk Cultural Heritage Material No. 178 (1926 Rectory)51 Taejo-ro, Wansan-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeonbuk-do (đối diện cổng cổ Pungnammun và làng cổ Jeonju Hanok)

Photo: lumoplank, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

The sole surviving historic timber clan pavilion in South Korea belonging to the Hwasan Yi Clan, descendants of Prince Ly Long Tuong of Dai Viet's Ly dynasty who settled in Goryeo in 1226, located in Changpyeong-ri Village, Bonghwa County, North Gyeongsang Province. Built around 1750 in the late Joseon period to honor thirteenth-generation descendant Yi Jang-bal (1574 to 1592), who died defending the realm at age nineteen in the Imjin War after composing a filial farewell poem to his widowed mother, it is designated North Gyeongsang Provincial Monument No. 181 (upgraded in 2021 from Cultural Heritage Material No. 466) and anchors historical Vietnamese-Korean kinship.

Gyeongsangbuk-do Provincial Monument No. 181 (Bonghwa Chunghyodang, upgraded in 2021 from Cultural Heritage Material No. 466 of 2004), historical core of the Bonghwa K-Vietnam Valley heritage precinct19-1 Changpyeongbonma-gil, Bongseong-myeon, Bonghwa-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do (thôn Changpyeong-ri)

Photo: Choi Kwang-mo, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

The first formal Vietnamese Buddhist temple established in South Korea, guided by Abbot Venerable Thich Tuong Thanh in South Chungcheong Province (sited on a wooded hillside in Mokcheon-eup, Cheonan, serving the province-wide Vietnamese community across provincial capital Hongseong, Yesan, and Asan). Growing from a lay congregation founded in 2013 to the acquisition of a former Korean mountain temple in June 2018 and grand inauguration in September 2019, Won-osa provides a vital spiritual refuge for tens of thousands of Vietnamese workers, marriage migrants, and students.

First formal Vietnamese Buddhist temple inaugurated in South Korea (2019), spiritual and humanitarian hub of the Vietnamese Buddhist Association in South Chungcheong Province and nationwide65-36 Seoheung 5-gil, Mokcheon-eup, Dongnam-gu, Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do (phục vụ toàn tỉnh Chungcheong Nam gồm thủ phủ Hongseong)

Photo: Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

A serene hillside Buddhist temple in Padong, Suseong District, Daegu, founded in 1990 by Venerable Sil-sang and renowned in Korean Buddhism for reviving the ancient Hundred High Seats Dharma Assembly since 1994 or 1995. Through warm monastic hospitality across nationalities, Beopwangsa opens its dharma halls regularly to Vietnamese monastics and the Vietnamese Buddhist congregation of the Daegu and North Gyeongsang industrial belt for native-language sutra chanting, mindfulness retreats, Lunar New Year peace prayers, and Vu Lan filial piety ceremonies.

Center for the modern revival of the Silla-Goryeo Hundred High Seats Dharma Assembly (since 1994 or 1995), primary host sanctuary of the Vietnamese Buddhist Congregation in Daegu and North Gyeongsang104 Padong-ro 51-gil, Suseong-gu, Daegu (chân đồi rừng Padong bên dòng suối Sincheon)

Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

One of South Korea's rare oceanfront Buddhist sanctuaries, perched dramatically on wave-lashed granite cliffs facing the East Sea in Gijang County, Busan, linked by temple tradition to National Preceptor Naong Hyegeun in 1376, rebuilt in the 1930s by Venerable Ungang, and named Haedong Yonggungsa in 1974 by Venerable Jeongam after a vision of white-robed Avalokitesvara riding a dragon. Reached down 108 stone steps and an arched bridge spanning a sea chasm, its cliffside Daeungbojeon and 10-meter Sea-Water Avalokitesvara statue draw millions of Korean pilgrims and Vietnamese residents across southeastern Korea.

One of Korea's Three Great Avalokitesvara Sacred Sites, official branch monastery of Hwaeomsa (District 19 of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, 2021)86 Yonggung-gil, Gijang-eup, Gijang-gun, Busan (ghềnh đá ven biển Đông thuộc thị trấn Gijang)

Photo: Christian Bolz, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

A landmark parish in northeastern Jongno District, Seoul, established in 1927 on the site of Korea's first German Benedictine monastery (1909) and rebuilt in 1960 by modernist architect Lee Hee-tae with sculptor Kim Se-jung's monumental granite Last Judgment relief across its facade. Designated National Registered Cultural Heritage No. 230 and remembered as the retirement home of Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, the parish and the adjacent Hyehwa-Bomun migrant pastoral corridor anchor free migrant medical care, Sunday migrant liturgies, and the fellowship of the Vietnamese Catholic Community in Seoul.

National Registered Cultural Heritage of South Korea No. 230 (2006)288 Changgyeonggung-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul (liền kề Trung tâm Mục vụ Di dân Tổng giáo phận tại 113 Bomun-ro)

Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons