Yangju City Passes First Gate for Hoeamsaji World Heritage Listing... Selected for Priority Listing

"Another Step Toward UNESCO World Heritage Inscription"
Preliminary Assessment Application to Be Submitted to the National Heritage Agency by the End of August

‘Yangju Hoeamsaji (Historic Site)’, a representative cultural heritage of Yangju City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Kang Su-hyun), has been selected for the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, marking the official start of the process for World Heritage inscription.

Yang Su-hyun, Mayor of Yangju, and others welcome the selection of 'Yangju Hoeamsaji (Historic Site)' on the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list. Photo by Yangju City

Yangju City announced on the 19th that on the 13th, the Cultural Heritage Committee’s World Heritage Subcommittee of the National Heritage Agency selected 'Yangju Hoeamsaji Site' for the World Heritage Tentative List.

With this selection, Hoeamsaji has passed the first gateway toward UNESCO World Heritage inscription and laid the foundation for official registration.

The Tentative List is an essential domestic procedure for World Heritage inscription, indicating that the promotion system, research achievements, and preservation and management plans required for the application have been met. Among the 14 items currently on the national tentative list, Hoeamsaji is the only heritage selected for the Tentative List.

Hoeamsaji is a temple that was the center of East Asian Buddhist culture from the late Goryeo to the early Joseon period and is associated with historical figures such as the national monk Jinul and Joseon’s founder Yi Seong-gye. Records show that Yi Seong-gye rebuilt Hoeamsa as a royal patron temple, and it is regarded as an important site for the study of Buddhist history and architecture of the early Goryeo and Joseon periods.

Overview of Hoheamsaji in Yangju. Provided by Yangju City

Designated as a national historic site in 1964, Hoeamsaji was confirmed to be a very important Seon (Zen) Buddhist temple site through excavations conducted from 1997 to 2015. After continuous research, it was inscribed on the World Heritage Tentative List in July 2022 following the third application.

This selection is significant as it recognizes Hoeamsaji’s value domestically as a representative heritage of East Asian Seon temples, achieving this result 2 years and 8 months after its tentative listing.

Yangju City plans to submit the preliminary assessment application to the National Heritage Agency by the end of August as the next step. The preliminary assessment is a process introduced by UNESCO to improve the completeness of the nomination dossier and increase the possibility of World Heritage inscription.

A Yangju City official stated, "We expect that the selection for the Tentative List will lead to a renewed appreciation of Hoeamsaji’s historical and cultural value," adding, "We will continue to cooperate with the National Heritage Agency and Gyeonggi Province to do our best for UNESCO World Heritage inscription."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.