Hapcheon

In Hapcheon's wooded mountains stands Haeinsa, a Buddhist monastery founded in the early ninth century. In 1398 it became the home of the Tripitaka Koreana, a vast collection of woodblocks used to print Buddhist scripture. The storage halls were designed with ventilation to help preserve the blocks.

Royal patronage supported work on the complex during the fifteenth century, and repairs continued under Joseon rulers. The storage halls survived the Japanese invasions of the late sixteenth century, although later fires damaged other parts of the monastery. Haeinsa connected the mountain district with religious learning and printing traditions across Korea.