Last week’s Korea Finder I featured Hwaamsa Temple that is located outside of East Sea port city of Sokcho.  The temple itself is not as architecturally spectacular as other temples in Korea, but regardless Hwaamsa is memorable due to the large rock formation that towers over the temple:

The temple itself was built in 769 AD making it quite an old temple by Korean standards.  However, like many other temples in Korea this temple was destroyed by fire in 1623 before being rebuilt in 1625.  Since then the temple has been reconstructed a number of other times to include after being destroyed during the Korean War.

The temple does have a nice creek that flows in front of it that visitors to the temple can sit and view from this gazebo:

All in all if in the area Hwaamsa Temple is worth stopping if in the area but I would not recommend going out of your way to visit this temple.  If you have limited time while visiting the Sokcho area I highly recommend visiting Naksan Temple and Baekdam Temple instead.

I didn’t have enough time when I visited the temple to hike up to the top of the rock, but Brian from Gangwon Notes did and he has a nice picture from above of the temple posted over at his site.  The large rock does make the temple quite photogenic, so for those looking for some interesting pictures this may be a good site for you.