Hōryū Temple

Hōryū-ji Temple is a Buddhist temple in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Its full name is Hōryū Gakumonji, or Learning Temple of the Flourishing Law. Hōryū-ji temple named as such because the site serves as a seminary as well as a monastery.
Hōryū-ji Temple was built in 607 by Crown Prince Shotoku. He founded the temple to fulfill the last wishes of his father, Emperor Yomei. The original site of the temple, now called Wakakusa-garan, lays east of the Great South Gate. According to "Nihonshoki", the chronicle of ancient Japan, the original temple was destroyed by fire in 670 and later it was rebuilt in the site of the present Western Precinct. The Western Precinct was completed in 711.
The Hōryū-ji Temple is widely acknowledged to have some of the oldest wooden buildings existing in the world, and is one of the most celebrated temples in Japan. In December of 1993, Hōryū-ji was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the Japanese government lists it as a National Treasure.
The grounds of Hōryū-ji Temple house the world's oldest surviving wooden structures, conveying images of Japan as it existed more than 1,300 years ago, during the Asuka Period (A.D.mid 6th-beginning of 8th c.).
In fact, Hōryū-ji Temple contains over 2,300 important cultural and historical structures and articles, including nearly 190 that have been designated as National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties. In December of 1993, Hōryū-ji, as a unique storehouse of world Buddhist culture, became the first treasure of any kind in Japan to be selected by UNESCO as part of the World Heritage.

Tip: the time for visitors form Monday to Sunday: 9:00-16:30; cost: Adult: ￥300.00, all values are in local currency (Yen).