Unfortunately, more than 1,200 years later after the re-erection, part of the Main Hall was destroyed by fire in early morning of January 26, 1949.
Fortunately, however, at that time the structure of the Main Hall was under disassembly work for repairing and the disassembled upper structure and Buddha statues were safely stored in other area. The lower structure and murals (wall paintings) were lost by the incident. (Since then, the day of January 26 is enacted as nationwide fire-prevention day of cultural assets .)
A lot of surviving Buddha statues are displayed in the Main Hall. They were made in the late 6th through 14th centuries. The most important statues are Healing Buddha (Yakushi Nyorai, made in the late 6 th or early 7 th century) which the Emperor Yohmei vowed to build for his own recovery from illness and Shaka Triad (made in early 7 th century) in honor of prince Shotoku.

Healing Buddha	Shaka Triad