National Treasures

The quality of heritage in Nara, and the quantity of the oldest heritage, is the highest in the country. Nara has over half of all the sculptures listed as National Treasures, and 64 buildings listed as National Treasures versus 51 in Kyoto. Not only that, Nara contains the lion's share of the oldest National Treasures. In sculpture, Nara has 35 of the 42 National Treasures in Japan from before the 8th century. In buildings, 32 of Nara's National Treasures date from the 12th century, from a total of 41. Where Kyoto has 23 buildings that are National Treasures dating from before 1573, Nara has 50. Very different from anywhere else in Japan, Nara has by far the highest concentration of the very finest heritage from the period when Japanese arts and architecture were at their peak.