Mt. Myohyang and the Relics in and around the Mountain
Democratic People's Republic of KoreaKorean Cultural Relics Publishing House
Disclaimer
The Tentative Lists of States Parties are published by the World Heritage Centre at its website and/or in working documents in order to ensure transparency, access to information and to facilitate harmonization of Tentative Lists at regional and thematic levels.
The sole responsibility for the content of each Tentative List lies with the State Party concerned. The publication of the Tentative Lists does not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever of the World Heritage Committee or of the World Heritage Centre or of the Secretariat of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its boundaries.
Property names are listed in the language in which they have been submitted by the State Party
Description
Mt. Myohyang is the celebrated mountain famous for its curious, unique appearance and breath-taking scenery. Mt. Myohyang consists of steep mountain ranges and peaks as high as 1000~1900 meters above sea level stretching northwestward and southwestward from the Piro Peak, the top of the mountain. Mountain ridges winding in mild curves, peaks emerged from the clouds like giant figures, cliffs and rocks—all these make up the magnificent scenery. And the thick woods of various species of plants in Mt. Myohyang smell sweet, flavoring the beauty of the mountain according to the seasons. So Mt. Myohyang has been called "the mountain of curiosity, beauty and sweet smell". Its characteristics lie not only in its outatanding natural beauty, but also in the harmonization of cùltural properties with their surrounding natural landscapes. Mt. Myohyang is concentrated with many properties relating Buddibism, including some 20 temples, among which Pohyon Temple built in 1042 well represent the style of architecture and its evolution process peculiar to Korea. Particularly, the Archives of the 80,000 Wooden Blocks of the Complete Collection of Buddhist Sutras, the world's most complete Buddhist sutras published in the 13th century, are preserved in their original state in Mt. Myohyang.