Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple

Inside a granite grotto on Mount Toham, a monumental Buddha has gazed toward the sea since the 8th century, hand lowered in the earth-touching bhumisparsha mudra, ringed by finely carved gods, bodhisattvas and disciples. Seokguram is a summit of Far Eastern Buddhist art, and with Bulguksa Temple below — built in 774 — it forms one sacred ensemble. UNESCO inscribed the pair in 1995.