Xinglong Temple Pagoda
Xinglong Temple Pagoda
CHINA, Shandong, Yanzhou
This pagoda was built during the Song dynasty (960–1279) and has been repaired a number of times. It was listed as a Provincial Cultural Heritage Site in 1977.
The 13-story, octagonal, brick pagoda is 54 m high and is built to imitate a wooden pagoda. It is unadorned and the eaves are very narrow. The bottom section consists of the first seven stories, which are thick and robust. The exterior is completely covered in smooth gray bricks with arched doorways located on the sides facing the four cardinal directions, while the remaining sides have windows that are rectangular, circular, or octagonal. Inside the pagoda there is a spiral staircase. The upper section was added later and is in the form of a small six-story pagoda. The inside is hollow with no stairs. From afar the upper section looks like a spire, but the actual spire is vase-shaped and rests upon a lotus base.
For more details, go to the Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Architecture T-Z, page 1326.
Cite this article:
author = Hsingyun and Youheng and Johnson, Peter and Mankuang and Lancaster, Lewis,
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Architecture T-Z},
pages = 1326,
title = {{Xinglong Temple Pagoda}},
volume = 4,
year = {2016}}