Hōryū-ji 法隆寺

Relics of the Buddha are kept beneath the central pillar of the pagoda.

Hōryū-ji is a Buddhist temple complex whose western area, with the five-storey pagoda and the Kondō, is the oldest group of wooden buildings still in existence in the world. The Kondō, the pagoda and other buildings are designated National Treasures (国宝). In 1993 the complex became the first site in Japan to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.