Gongchen Pagoda

Gongchen Pagoda

Gongchen Pagoda is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Located on Gongchen Mountain south of Jincheng Town in Lin’an County, Gongchen Pagoda was built by Qian Liu, the king of the Wuyue Kingdom during the Five Dynasties period. The southern foothills of Gongchen Mountain, known as Qianwulong, is the birthplace of Qian Liu. Originally called Daguan Mountain, it was renamed Gongchen Mountain by Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty in recognition of Qian Liu’s great contributions. In the first year of the Zhenming era of the Liang Dynasty (915 AD), Qian Liu converted the Gongchen Hall into the Gongchen Temple and simultaneously constructed Gongchen Pagoda.

Gongchen Pagoda is a brick-and-timber structure. Its body is built of brick in a cylindrical pavilion style, with a square floor plan and relatively gentle contours, continuing the architectural legacy of Tang Dynasty pagodas. It stands 2530 cm tall and has five stories. The first story is 500 cm high. Each face of every level of the pagoda subtly features engaged columns, regular columns, and wood + mixed columns. The regular columns are spindle-shaped. Openings between the wood + mixed columns form rectangular doorways. The depth of the passageways corresponds to the thickness of the pagoda walls. The tops of the passageways are built with corbelled arches forming domed ceilings—octagonal for the first and second levels, and square for the third, fourth, and fifth. Both the eaves and the balconies are constructed with flat bricks in a corbelled style, resulting in very shallow overhangs. The bracket sets for the waist eaves and balconies are all made of brick; the projecting elements were likely wooden carvings, but they have been destroyed, leaving only vestigial holes. Each level’s regular columns are topped with bracket sets at the column heads, and the ground level also includes one set of bracket sets in the intercolumnar spaces. The bracket arms are of the double-arch type, and from the remains of the vestigial holes, it is judged to be of the five-component design. The existing eaves are very shallow, yet the five-component bracket sets are used beneath them, with projecting brackets extending much farther than the current corbelled eaves. There is also a certain vertical gap between the existing bracket arms and the corbelled eaves, leading to the conclusion that the original structure probably featured bracket arms extending outward on the arches, with rafters laid atop the corbelled bricks and tiles installed over them. The balcony bracket sets consist of three per side. From the traces of the vestigial holes, they are believed to be of the single-arch, four-component design, with the soffit rafters placed atop the bracket arms, equivalent to three materials and two brackets in height—just level with the upper parts of the corbelled balcony bricks. Planks or face bricks were likely laid atop them. If the original designs of the eaves and balconies were indeed as inferred, Gongchen Pagoda represents the earliest example among surviving brick pagodas that transitioned from corbelled eaves to a combined brick-and-timber structure with wooden eaves and balconies. The pagoda is crowned with an inverted bowl and a precious vase, mounted on a finial pole. The finial pole is supported by a main beam and reinforced with diagonal braces.

In 1963, the People’s Committee of Zhejiang Province designated Gongchen Pagoda as a Provincial-Level Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit. In April 1981, the Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government re-designated it as a Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit. In September 1982, the provincial and county governments allocated funds for its renovation, which was completed in May 1984.

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units