Donghwasa Temple

Donghwasa sits on the southern flank of Palgongsan above Daegu, founded in the fifth century and rebuilt many times, and it is the head temple for this region of the Jogye order. The compound has two distinct parts. The old temple is a set of modest halls on a slope, including the Yeongsanjeon and a rock-carved seated Buddha of the Unified Silla period cut into a natural boulder behind, and a hermitage, Geumdang, further up. The other part is much newer and much bigger: a standing stone Buddha of about thirty metres completed in 1992, on a wide granite plaza with attendant pagodas and hundreds of small stone figures. It is a huge open space and reads as monumental rather than intimate. A cable car nearby runs up Palgongsan, and the mountain's Gatbawi statue is on the far side.

What you actually see

• The thirty-metre Buddha - the 1992 statue on its plaza.
• The old halls - the modest Joseon compound on the slope.
• The rock-carved Buddha - Silla work on a boulder behind.
• The mountain setting - Palgongsan rising above.

When to go

April to June and October; autumn on Palgongsan is the busy season and the road up is slow. Weekday mornings are calm.

Honest expectations

The two halves feel like different places, and the modern plaza is not to everyone's taste. Ticketed, with a commercial street at the entrance. It is a working temple with restrictions in the halls.

Nearby

Gatbawi is on the eastern side of Palgongsan; the Palgongsan cable car is close.