Zhongyue Temple

    Embraced by mountains of nice view, the Zhongyue Temple lies at the southeast foot of the Huanggai Peak of Mountain Taishi, 4 km away from Dengfeng County seat.
    The Zhongyue Temple, originally named the “Taishi Temple”, was first built in the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.-207 B.C.). It has been extended in each dynasty since Hanwudi, an Emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, visited here, reaching its climax in the Tang and Song Dynasties. From the end of the Song Dynasty to the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the temple witnessed rise and fall and a major remedy was made during the ages of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty.
The Zhongyue Temple, the grandest ancient architectural complex best maintained in Mountain Songshan, are basically unchanged in scale since the remedy of the Qing Dynasty, covering more than 100,000 square meters with 11 establishments lying one behind another along the axis with a total distance as long as 6.5 km from the first to the last.
    Numerous culture relics can be found here, from more than 400 ancient buildings of Qing Royal Palace Style including halls, palaces, towers, cabinets, lanes, pavilions, platforms, porches and yards, to 335 cypresses planted since the Han to the Song Dynasties. What's more, more than a hundred of ancient steles and iron sculptures such as stone tablets, inscriptions, iron guards, iron lions created during the ages since the Han Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, a long period since 206 B.C. to 1368 A.D., are cherished here, in addition to over 100 ancient woodcarvings of Taoism classics and over 1,000 board carvings on the history of Mountain Songshan, the Songyue Temple and so on. These ancient culture treasures have provided materials of great value in the historic study of Chinese architecture, art and Taoism.

Publishes at : 07-07-14 15:08

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