Haetalmun Gate of Dogapsa Temple, Yeongam

Dogapsa, on Wolchulsan, is said to have been founded by the state preceptor Doseon at the end of Silla and to have flourished in later Goryeo. The site had held a temple called Munsusa, where Doseon spent his childhood; the story is that after he grew up and travelled to China he built Dogapsa on that ground. The monks Sumi and Sinmi rebuilt it in 1473, most of the buildings burned in the Korean War, and what stands now was built afterwards. Haetalmun, the oldest building here, is the gate of release — the name means to shed every affliction. It stands at the entrance, three bays wide and two deep. Guardian figures stand in the outer bay on either side and the middle bay is the passage through. A board above reads Dogapsa of Wolchulsan, announcing the temple's main gate; on the other side another reads Haetalmun. Mountain gates of this kind are uncommon in Korea, and this one is an important building, to be set beside the revolving gate at Cheongpyeongsa in Chuncheon.

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Visiting

Closed

N/A (Open all year round)

Admission

Free

Parking

Available

Information

• 1330 Travel Hotline: +82-2-1330 <BR>(Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese) <br>• For more info: +82-61-473-5122

Visitor information: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1

Where it is

Region

Yeongam, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

National Treasure · 국보