Guangji Temple Pagoda

Guangji Temple Pagoda

Guangji Temple Pagoda is a cultural relic protection unit of Liaoning Province.

Dashanguangji Temple, also known as Dafo Temple, is located on North Street in the old city area of Guta District. An inscription from the Ming Dynasty inside the temple states that it was built during the Liao Dynasty, destroyed by fire during the late Yuan Dynasty, and underwent multiple renovations after the Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty. In the 14th year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty (1809), it suffered another fire, and reconstruction began in the 6th year of the Daoguang reign (1826), completing in the 9th year (1829). The overall architectural layout is compact, with a rectangular floor plan, featuring Buddhist halls, the Heavenly King Hall, stele pavilions, side halls, and more. The main structure is the Buddhist hall (though the Buddha statue is no longer present), a grand wooden hip-and-gable roofed building with double eaves. It is seven bays wide and five bays deep, with exquisitely carved eave pillars and lintels. To the east of the temple is the Zhaongzhong Shrine, built in the 24th year of the Guangxu reign to commemorate martyrs who fell in the First Sino-Japanese War. To the west is the Tianhou Palace, constructed during the Yongzheng era. The current main hall dates back to around the Tongzhi era. The seven-bay main hall has a flush gable roof with painted wood carvings on the lintel depicting the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars, rendered in vivid detail. The front courtyard includes fourteen East and West corridor rooms, with stele pavilions on either side of the mountain gate. After liberation, all structures were refurbished and are now part of the Jinzhou Museum site. It is a provincial-level key cultural relics protection unit.

The Jinzhou Liao Pagoda stands in front of Dashanguangji Temple. According to an inscription from the Ming Dynasty's Jiajing era (written by Wen Gui, the circuit intendant of Xuanda), the Jin Dynasty’s Zhongjing official Gao Lian once wrote the “Pagoda Record,” stating that the pagoda was built in the 3rd year of the Qingning era of Emperor Daozong of Liao (1057, not 1507), to enshrine the sarira bestowed by the empress. The pagoda is a solid brick structure with closely spaced eaves, currently standing 57 meters tall. It has an octagonal body, with each face carved with a Buddha flanked by attendants, three canopies, and two flying apsaras. The apsaras soar above, while the great Buddha sits serenely in the niche, with attendants standing solemnly by. The pagoda has thirteen tiers of eaves, each corner originally adorned with nanmu beams supporting the eaves, with copper bells hanging below—most of which have now fallen off, with only eleven remaining on the northwest corner. The pagoda top was destroyed by cannon fire from Ming troops during the Yongle era. Most of the brick carvings of beams, columns, dougong brackets, and floral motifs on the pagoda have also largely fallen away. The base was repaired with blue bricks in 1933. The ancient pagoda is a massive structure, the tallest ancient building in western Liaoning, and the only Liao Dynasty pagoda visible from trains on the Beijing–Shenyang route. It is considered an iconic landmark of Jinzhou’s ancient city, holding historical and artistic value as a provincial-level cultural relic.

Protected area: within 18.5 meters east and west, and 15.5 meters north and south of the center of the pagoda.

Construction control zone: a primary construction control zone extends 50 meters beyond the protected area, with a secondary control zone extending 50 meters beyond the primary zone to the south, west, and north.

Address: Shinanying South Street, Guta District, Jinzhou City

Type: Historic Site/Temple

Recommended visiting time: about 1 hour

Ticket information:

Door price: 10.0 RMB

Further reading:

· Eighth batch of cultural relics protection units in Liaoning Province