Boyata

Boyata

The building of Peking University is famous for its lake pagoda. The pagoda refers to the Boya pagoda beside Weiming lake of Peking University. Boya tower, the "tower" of the "one tower and lake" of the essence of Yanyuan architecture, is a highly unified architectural masterpiece in terms of use function, artistic modeling and environmental coordination. Its beautiful image in Weiming lake is deeply imprinted in the hearts of the students of Peking University. Located on a hill in the southeast of Weiming lake, the Boya pagoda is modeled on the relic pagoda of burning lamp Buddha in Tongzhou and the style of brick Pagoda with dense eaves in Liao Dynasty. It used to be a water supply tower on campus, and its unique design idea is the masterstroke of the construction of Yanyuan.

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Development history

In July 1924, Yanyuan (formerly Yanjing University campus, now Peking University Campus) needed to build a water tower in order to supply water to the whole school. At that time, it was suggested that an ancient tower like water building should be built in the classical architecture complex of Yanyuan, so as to coordinate it with the scenery of Weiming lake. Because ancient pagodas were mostly built in temples in ancient China, this proposal was controversial at that time. Later, the school solicited opinions from the celebrities at that time and decided to build the tower water building after it was widely approved. As time goes by, a controversial proposal at that time has become an eternal classic among China's top universities. The height of the buildings in the campus is lower than that of the Boya tower, which is said to be due to the relevant regulations of the cultural relics reserve.

Main attractions

The design of Boya pagoda is based on the light Buddha relic Pagoda in Tongzhou. The relic pagoda of burning lamp Buddha was first built in the Northern Zhou Dynasty. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times later. According to legend, it was built for the purpose of collecting the relic of the burning lamp Buddha. The relic of the burning lamp Buddha is worshipped in the tower, and the relic of the Buddha is collected, so it is called the burning lamp Buddha relic tower. Boyata tower is "tower level 13, 280 feet high, surrounded by a hundred and four feet, hollow". It is only 37 meters high and 164 feet deep. Its water spray is more than ten feet above the ground, with a water spray volume of 16000 gallons (60560 liters) per hour. The internal structure is hollow, with spiral ladder straight to the top of the tower. Except for the base, it is all built with reinforced concrete, with excellent design. It is said that the construction units at that time closed down due to the loss caused by inaccurate work evaluation and had to change their hands three times. At that time, the buildings on the campus of Yanjing University were all named after the donor's surname. The boyata pagoda was mainly donated by Lucius Chapin Porter (1880-1958, then living in the United States), a professor of philosophy at Yanjing University, so it was named "boyata pagoda".

The majestic boyata pagoda, the pines and cypresses around it and the shimmering Weiming Lake constitute a major landscape of Yanyuan. Due to the ingenious location of the building, it is more beautiful and magical to see its figure from time to time in and out of Peking University, between beams, columns and ancient trees. Boyata is like a weather beaten old man, standing silently by the lake, looking at the changing situation, the locked tower door, like the old man's closed heart, contains the long years of life.

Address: boyata

Longitude: 116.31167516112

Latitude: 39.993919219965

Chinese PinYin : Bo Ya Ta