Guangrenwang Temple, main hall  廣仁王廟正殿

Main hall dated to the Tang dynasty. Although a spring was originally located in front of the site, it did not show any flow during my 1997 visit.

Building Information

The main hall was built in the fifth year of Tang Dahe reign period (831). The brick foundation of the hall is 1.5 meters high, five bays across the front facade, depth of four rafters, and has a single eaves hip gable roof. With a tingtang (廳堂) style structure, the structural frame is four rafters in depth using a 4-rafter-beam which connects to the two eaves pillars, which are round, straight pillars. The corner pillars are clearly taller than the central pillars and have an inward incline (shengqi 生起 and cejiao 側腳). Between the columns there are lan'e (闌額). There is no pupaifang (普拍枋). The pillar top bracket sets have two steps of huagong(華栱) that are touxinzao (偷心造). There is a panel door in the central bay of the front facade. The two subsidiary bays have prism-lattice windows—straight lattice whose slats are triangular in cross-section (pozi lingchuang 破子棂窗). There are two Tang dynasty and two Qing dynasty inscribed tablets (jie 碣) set into the walls of the front facade.1