Guangde Temple Pagoda

Guangde Temple Pagoda

Duobao pagoda of Guangde Temple is a national key cultural relic protection unit. The pagoda is of brick and stone structure, with a height of 16.8 meters. The plane of the tower base is octagonal, with a side of 5.5 meters and a height of 7.26 meters

geographical position

Guangde Temple Pagoda, located 13 kilometers west of Xiangyang City, Xiangfan City, Hubei Province, was built in 1494-1496, the seventh to ninth year of Hongzhi in Ming Dynasty.

Cultural relics protection

Guangde Temple Pagoda, announced by the State Council of the people's Republic of China as a national key cultural relics protection unit in 1988.

Masonry structure

Guangde Temple Pagoda is a brick and stone structure, King Kong throne type, with a height of 16.8 meters. The plane of the pagoda base is octagonal, with a side of 5.5 meters and a height of 7.26 meters. It is built with green bricks and a thickness of 3.5 meters. Octagonal round arc brick columns are decorated with stone carving head and stone pillar foundation. The foundation is made of stones, 0.45 meters high. There are stone gates on the southeast, northwest, southwest and northeast sides of the tower, with a height of 1.66 meters and a width of 1.02 meters.

Stone carving art

Guangde Temple Pagoda, eight walls are inlaid with stone niches and Buddha statues. On the niche of the main gate, there is a stone forehead with four characters of "Duobao pagoda" in regular script. At the top of the tower, there is a shallow eaves. Under the eaves, three characters of "Buddha" are carved into square pieces of stone, and they are arranged horizontally and equidistant. In the center of the tower, a brick octagonal pavilion type tower is set on the Xumi base. On the four sides of the main gate of the tower, stone niches and stone Buddhas are inlaid, and wooden building elements such as forehead, Fang and Wudou are decorated.

In fact, the pagoda of Guangde Temple acts as the core pillar of the pagoda, forming a ring Gallery type tower room. There is a small door on the left side of the Northeast gateway, and the stone steps between the two walls spiral up to the top of the tower base.

At the exit of the stone steps, there is a square pavilion with a height of 3.25 meters. There are five towers on it. Central tower

Layout of pagodas

The multi pagoda of Guangde Temple is 9.54 meters high. It is carved with stone xumizuo at the bottom and lotus petals at the top. On the top of the pagoda is a bowl like pagoda. Small niches and Buddha statues are carved on all sides. The top is "thirteen days", a bronze cover and a pearl. Under the cover of the treasure hangs the wind. The four corner pagodas are all hexagonal pavilion type, 6.65 meters high. On the stone xumizuo, the pagoda body is inlaid with niches and Buddha statues, and there are no doors and windows. There are three layers of dense eaves on the top, and one glazed Buddha statue is placed on each side of the eaves on the first layer.

Carving technique

The top of the pagoda is decorated with jewels, and the wall of the small Pagoda in the south corner is inlaid with stones. The inscription of "Xiangyang inherits Zhao Fubao" in the ninth year of Hongzhi (1496) is engraved on it. The architectural structure, decorative patterns and carving techniques of the tower all have Ming Dynasty style. In front of the pagoda, the former front hall of Guangde Temple and the Sutra collection building are of brick and wood structure. The existing floor of Sutra collection is three rooms wide and three rooms deep, with double eaves and hard hilltop. It is a building of late Qing Dynasty.

Address: Guangde Temple, Longzhong village, Xiangyang District, Xiangyang City, Hubei Province

Longitude: 112.16829

Latitude: 32.012938

Chinese PinYin : Guang De Si Duo Bao Ta