The Powerhouse has unveiled its major summer exhibition, Five Hundred Arhats of Changnyeongsa Temple.

The arhats are ancient stone figures discovered in 2001-02 among the ruins of the Changnyeongsa Temple in South Korea’s Gangwon-do Province, believed to have been built during Goryeo dynasty (918-1392) and destroyed in mid Joseon dynasty (1392-1879). The stone statues depict ‘arhats’ – ‘nahan’ in Korean – known in Buddhism as one who has attained enlightenment. The arhats represent five hundred disciples of the Buddha who gathered to compile his words into scriptures after the Buddha entered nirvana. Although they have attained enlightenment, they defer entering nirvana themselves and remain in their human state in order to teach and save sentient beings.

The stone arhats have been carefully restored by Chuncheon National Museum of Korea and were first presented at the Museum in 2018, followed by National Museum of Korea in 2019, becoming Korea’s most popular exhibition that year.

The multi-faceted exhibition presents 50 stone arhats and one Buddha in an immersive environment designed by Korean artist Kim Seung Young, and marks the first time the arhats have been seen outside Korea.