Case file · Folklore / legend
The Tripitaka Koreana and its untouched hall
The 81,000 printing blocks moved to Haeinsa in 1398 are said to repel birds, insects and fire: the storage halls survived every blaze that burned the temple around them.
1398 CE · 35.80, 128.10 · status: legend
The account
In 1951 Air Force pilot Kim Young-hwan refused an order to bomb guerrillas sheltering at the temple, which villagers took as more of its protection. The halls are a World Heritage site.
The sceptical view
The halls' clever ventilation and charcoal-and-salt floors explain the blocks' preservation; their survival of fires owes much to their separate position up the slope.