▲ This photo, provided by Yangju city, shows the "Hoeamsa Temple Site, Yangju." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

▲ This photo, provided by Yangju city, shows the "Hoeamsa Temple Site, Yangju." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

 

SEOUL, July 27 (Yonhap) -- The "Hoeamsa Temple Site, Yangju" in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, has been added to the "Tentative List," a gateway for UNESCO World Heritage listing.

The Cultural Heritage Administration announced on Tuesday that the Yangju Hoeamsa Temple site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on July 20 and was finally posted on the World Heritage Centre's official website.

According to the website of the National Cultural Heritage, Hoeamsa Temple, Yangju is said to have been built by the Indian Buddhist monk Jigong in the 15th year (1328) of King Chungsuk of Goryeo Dynasty. It is said that Jigong's disciple built a larger temple later.

In the first half of the Joseon Dynasty, it was considered the largest temple in the country, as it prospered greatly with the support of Queen Jeonghui, the concubine of King Sejo, and Queen Munjeong, mother of King Myeongjong. It is said that at one point, about 3,000 people stayed in the temple with 262 rooms.

Hoeamsa Temple Site, Yangju was designated as a historic site in 1964.

The ruins are composed in the central part where about 70 building sites have been identified, with the monuments of high priests including Buddha statues, stone lanterns, and tombstones. There are 9 designated cultural properties, including 4 treasures such as the "Stupa of Hoeamsa Temple Site (Treasure No.388)."

According to the Cultural Heritage Administration, in the application for provisional list submitted to UNESCO, the site was presented as an "excellent universal value," in support of the fact that it excellently shows the prosperity and spread of Zen Buddhism, which thrived in East Asia during the 14th century.

The World Heritage Provisional List is a preliminary list of properties worthy of inscription on the World Heritage List.

In order to be inscribed as a World Heritage List, it must be added to the Provisional List for at least a year to apply for the World Heritage status.

Including the Hoeamsa Temple Site, Yangju, there are a total of 13 UNESCO World Heritage Tentative Lists belonging to Korea.

 

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Haemin Kim.)

 

 

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