Fogong Monastery  佛宮寺

Building Information

Fogongsi (佛宮寺) is located in Yingxian County, Shanxi Province. According to the Wanli reign period (1573-1620) Yingzhouzhi (應州志), it was begun in the second year of the Liao Qingning period (1056). The site has been renovated many times. Although initially named Baogong chansi (寶宮禪寺), due to an imperial taboo for the character bao (寶) in 1315, the site’s name was changed to Fogongsi. Covering an area of ​​24,000 square meters the buildings are oriented north-south. In the Liao period, the monastery was just northwest of the intersection between the major north­-south and east-­west city thoroughfares, putting the monastery in a central position in Yingzhou (Steinhardt 1994, 13-14). 1

The Sakyamuni Pagoda is oriented two degrees west of due south and stands on the central axis, behind the Shanmen (山門) and in front of the Mahavira Treasure Hall (Daxiongbaodian 大雄宝殿). Of the existing buildings at the site, only the Sakyamuni Pagoda is a relic of the Liao Dynasty. The bell tower (钟楼) and the drum tower (鼓楼) were built in the Ming dynasty, and the Mahavira Treasure Hall (Daxiongbaodian 大雄宝殿), appended buildings (jiawu 夹屋), and subsidiary halls (peidian 配殿) are all buildings from the Qing dynasty (Guojia wenwuju, 2006, 176). From the mid 20th century there were two courtyards, one with the gatehouse, bell and drum towers and the pagoda, and the back with abbots' quarters and the Daxiongbaodian (Chen, 2001, 30).

External Links

Wikipedia (in Chinese)

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