Daeungjeon Hall of Mihwangsa Temple, Haenam

Mihwangsa was built in 749, the 8th year of King Kyoung Deuk's reignin the Silla Dynasty.

According to the record on a historical monument(1692), the king of Khotan an ancient Silk Road country, sent a ship to Korea which contained Buddhist sutras and statues, From his home, he used mystical powers to guide the ship to the southern end of Korea and to communicate his wish for a temple to be built in Korea to enshrine the ship's contents.

Master Euijo and 100 buddhists received the ship and founded the temple on the current location. After its foundation, Mihwangsa prospered until the middle of Joseon Dynasty, becoming a large-scale temple that included 12 hermitages. However, most of the temple buildings were burned during the Japanese invasion in 1597, and rebuilt in 1598. An extensive restoration was completed in 2008.

The Great Hero Hall is the central building of Mihwangsa. In the middle of the Hall there\is a statue of Sakyamuni Buddha, fanked on the left side by Amitabha, and on the right by the Medicine Buddha. This building was is rebuilt in 1601 and has gone through several renovations, in 1660, 1754, 1982, and 2007.

The ceiling and the cross beams are decorated with Sanskrit letters and a painting of one thousand buddhas.

Its beauty has been compared to the paintings in the Alanta Caves in India and the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, China.

Source: Korea Heritage Service signboard ↗ · collected 2026-10-08