Sinheungsa Temple’s Siwangdo Returns to Its Original Home in Sokcho After 227 Years

Sinheungsa Temple’s Siwangdo Returns to Its Original Home
Tenth Siwangdo Painting Comes Back from the Metropolitan
One More Siwangdo Painting Repatriated from the US
Commitment to Recover the Remaining Three Paintings

After spending many years in a distant foreign land, one of the Siwangdo (Ten Kings) paintings from Sinheungsa Temple in Sokcho finally returned to its original home at Sinheungsa Temple on the 14th.

One of the Siwangdo paintings from Sinheungsa Temple in Sokcho finally returned to its original place at Sinheungsa Temple on the 14th. Provided by Sokcho City

The recently repatriated Siwangdo is the tenth piece, known as the Painting of the King of the Five Paths and the Wheel of Rebirth (Odo Jeonryun Daewangdo), which had been housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. With this return, the Siwangdo has finally been restored to its rightful place, fulfilling the meaning of “restoration to the original location” as a cultural heritage.

Sokcho City (Mayor Lee Byungseon) and the Sokcho Cultural Heritage Restoration Committee (Chairman Lee Sangrae) have continued negotiations with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, building on their experience of repatriating one Yeongsan Hoesangdo painting and six Siwangdo paintings from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in July 2020.

In 2023, representatives visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in person to examine the Siwangdo painting, and, through three additional visits and ongoing provision of materials, continued to explain the necessity of its repatriation.

Based on this process of negotiation, in July 2025, Sokcho City, the Sokcho Cultural Heritage Restoration Committee, and Sinheungsa Temple officials held repatriation talks at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, attended by Sokcho Mayor Lee Byungseon and Sokcho City Council Chairman Bang Wonuk. During the negotiations, a consensus was reached on the idea that cultural heritage holds its full value only when it is in its proper place, leading to the successful restoration of the painting to its original location.

The Siwangdo from Sinheungsa Temple is a Buddhist painting that once adorned the back of Treasure No. 1749, the Wooden Amitabha Triad, located in the Myeongbujeon Hall of Sinheungsa Temple (a designated Tangible Cultural Heritage of Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province). Although there is no separate inscription on the recently returned Siwangdo, it is believed to have been created in 1798 (the 22nd year of King Jeongjo’s reign) along with the other Siwangdo paintings.

With this repatriation, the one piece previously held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art has now returned to Sinheungsa Temple, and together with the six pieces repatriated in 2020, a total of seven Siwangdo paintings have been restored to their rightful place.

Simbangsa Temple's Reassigned Ten Kings Painting. Provided by Sokcho City

The repatriated Siwangdo will be enshrined in the new Yeongsan Hoesangdo preservation facility currently under construction at Sinheungsa Temple, and it will be opened to the public as soon as the exhibition facilities are ready.

Sokcho Mayor Lee Byungseon stated, "This repatriation is a valuable achievement made possible through the joint efforts of Sinheungsa Temple, the National Heritage Administration, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, the Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation, and the Sokcho Cultural Heritage Restoration Committee." He added, "There are a total of ten Siwangdo paintings, but three have yet to be returned to their original place. We will continue to work with the relevant organizations to ensure that the remaining Siwangdo paintings can also come home."

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