Anchan Monastery, sutra preservation hall  安禪寺藏經殿

Building Information

The sutra preservation hall or sutra repository (藏经殿) of Anchansi is built on a brick foundation. The front façade is 3-bays wide and the depth is 3-bays. The central bay is twice as wide as the side bays. It has a single eaves hip-gable roof, and the gray rooftiles are punctuated with a central diamond of yellow and green glazed tiles. Under the eaves are four layer bracket sets (puzuo) with a single huagong and a locust head style ("insect head" or “grasshopper head” (fuzong tou 蜉䗥頭; mazhatou 螞蚱頭)) shuatou. There is one intercolumnar bracket set in the central bay. The entasis of the pillars is clearly evident, making it possible to consider them "shuttle-shaped pillars" (suozhu 梭柱). The original system of woodwork/latticework is no longer extant.1