Hall of the Dark Altar

Hall of the Dark Altar

The Hall of the Dark Altar is a cultural relic protection unit of Wenzhou City.

The Hall of the Dark Altar on Puzhou Street is located at No. 265, Puzhou Street, Liming Subdistrict, Lucheng District, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province. It faces south and is a three-bay, two-courtyard wooden courtyard building consisting of an entrance hall, main hall, two side corridors, and a stage in front of the hall, with a total floor area of 250 square meters. The entrance hall features a coiled canopy roof, while the side corridors have caisson ceilings adorned with painted decorations. The main hall’s central bay has a five-rafter lifted-beam structure, while the side bays use a mixed lifted-beam and through-tenon style. The southern part of the central bay houses a shrine. The main hall includes front and rear corridors. The stage faces the entrance hall across the street, featuring a caisson ceiling in the shape of an overlapping “eight” character, with layers sloping upward, flower basket carvings on the bracket mouths, and the inclined panels covered with paintings of landscapes, flowers, figures, and inscriptions, making it the finest ancient stage still existing in our city. The main hall roof is of the flush-gable style, while the stage has a hip-and-gable roof, with decorative tiles and drip tiles. The hall was first built in the ninth year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty (1376 AD), rebuilt in the year of Bingyin during the Kangxi reign, and reconstructed again in the year of Yimao during the Qianlong reign (1795 AD). The Hall of the Dark Altar enshrines “Zhengyi Dark Altar Zhao Yuan Shuai,” also known as the God of Wealth Zhao Gongming, whose given name was Lang and courtesy name Gongming. “Dark Altar” refers to a Taoist ritual altar, and also carries the meaning of...

In August 1985, the Wenzhou Municipal People's Government announced the Hall of the Dark Altar on Puzhou Street and others as part of the second batch of cultural relic protection units of Wenzhou City.

Protection Level: County (city, district)-level cultural relic protection unit

Period: Qing Dynasty

Announcement Date: August 21, 1985

Category: Ancient architecture

Protected Area: The eastern boundary of the Hall is the surrounding wall; the southern boundary extends 0–5 meters outward from the surrounding wall; the northern boundary is Puzhou Street. The stage’s eastern boundary is the wall of the building; the western boundary extends 2 meters outward from the foundation of the west wing platform; the northern boundary extends 5 meters outward from the back wall; the southern boundary connects to the Hall. The ancient banyan tree to the left of the hall is also within the protected area.

Building Control Zone: Within 20 meters to the south, 30 meters to the north, and 10 meters to the east and west, building heights are controlled to within 7 meters; within 10 to 30 meters to the east and west, building heights are controlled to within 10 meters.

Gulangyu Subdistrict: Gulangyu Subdistrict, Siming District, Xiamen City, Fujian Province

This subdistrict covers an area of 1.91 square kilometers and has a registered population of 15,373. It governs 2 communities: Longtou and Neicuo. Gulangyu Subdistrict is a subdistrict office under Siming District, Xiamen City, Fujian Province. Its jurisdiction is the island area of Gulangyu, covering 1.91 square kilometers with a registered population of 15,373. The subdistrict governs 2 communities: Longtou Community (eastern part) and Neicuo Community (western part). Before 2003, the area now governed by Gulangyu Subdistrict was Gulangyu District, which did not include any subdistricts or towns. 2…… More details about Gulangyu Subdistrict++