Dayang Tangdi Temple

Dayang Tangdi Temple

Dayang Tangdi Temple is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Dayang Tangdi Temple

Dayang Tangdi Temple (Listed in the Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units)

Period: Yuan to Qing Dynasties

Address: West Street, Dayang Town, Zezhou County

The founding date is unknown. According to *Shan You Shi Ke Cong Bian*, “The Tangdi Hall of Dayang was built by our ancestor Liu in the fifth year of Qiande (967).” The existing structures date from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing periods. The Tangdi Temple faces south and has a two-courtyard layout with symmetrical central axis. It is 64.95 meters long from north to south and 46.75 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of 3,037 square meters. From south to north, the buildings are arranged as follows: theater stage, mountain gate, middle gate, Tangdi Hall, with side structures including east and west wing rooms, east and west side chambers, east and west side gates, and three other halls.

The Tangdi Hall, a Yuan Dynasty structure, is the main hall of the temple. Its construction fully reflects the architectural style of the Yuan Dynasty, characterized by reduced and relocated columns. It is three bays wide and eight rafters deep, with a single-eave hanging gable roof. The bracket sets on the column tops are of the移柱 (column-moving) and减柱 (column-reducing) styles, featuring densely arranged brackets and complex wooden structures. The roof structure also uses multiple layers of beams.

Several steles from the Ming and Qing periods, including restoration inscriptions and commemorative tablets, are preserved in the temple.

Further reading:

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units