Maidari Juu Temple

CHINA, Inner Mongolia, Baotou

The temple complex was built in Chinese and Tibetan styles between 1567 and 1572 during the Ming dynasty, after the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism was brought to Inner Mongolia. It serves as a palace, monastery and residence. It was listed as a National Cultural Heritage Site in 1996.
The temple covers an area of about 3 ha and is surrounded by a rammed earth wall which is 5 m high and 6 m wide. At each corner there is a watchtower and in the center of the south wall there is a brick gateway with a triple-eave hip-and-gable roof. The main buildings include the Great Hero Hall, the Pavilion of the Three Buddhas, Naiqiong Shrine, and the Empress Shrine on the east side.
The Great Hero Hall is the main building of the temple and consists of three sections: the portico, the assembly hall and the Buddha hall. The portico and the assembly hall have hip-and-gable roofs, while the five-by-five bay Buddha hall has a triple-eave hip-and-gable roof. The Buddha hall has 24 large columns with gilt coiled dragons and murals depicting themes such as the Life of the Buddha and the Enlightenment of Tsongkhapa. The lower register of the walls depicts Mongol benefactors, providing valuable sources for the study of Mongolian history in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Buddha hall has a veranda which is a circumambulation passage lined with prayer wheels. The five-bay wide Pavilion of the Three Buddhas is also known as the Glaze Hall. It is a three-story Chinese-style tower and is the only building with a roof with green glazed tiles. Naiqiong Shrine is situated in the west and is the only completely Tibetan-style building in the complex.