Shenba Brick Pagoda

Shenba Brick Pagoda

Shenba Brick Pagoda is a cultural relic protection unit of Sichuan Province.

Shenba Brick Pagoda is named after being built with bricks in Shenba Town. It stands approximately 14 meters tall and features a seven-story, hexagonal structure with carved reliefs made of brick. This pagoda serves both as a "Literature Tower" and a "Scripture Repository Pagoda." It was constructed in the third year of the Tongzhi (同治) reign during the Qing Dynasty (1864). The base of the first floor of the pagoda is 1.75 meters wide on each side, narrowing progressively with each ascending level. The first floor has carved drum-shaped column bases at the corners, each with an upside-down running lion. The second floor has four walls, three of which are inlaid with bluish-gray stone slabs engraved with prefaces and other texts, while the fourth wall features a brick gate used for burning used paper with writing. Each level and each side are adorned with engaged columns, topped with architraves and tiled eaves made of barrel tiles. The eave edges are carved with round roof tiles and water spouts. The top of the pagoda is styled as a traditional Chinese hexagonal pyramidal roof, which was destroyed when hit by boats after the pagoda became submerged. There are a total of 224 carved reliefs across the pagoda, featuring various images of people, flowers, birds, landscapes, musical instruments, chess sets, calligraphy, swords, tables, vases, bats, and more—these carvings appear on two sides of the second floor, all six sides of the upper five levels, two sides of the first-floor corner drum bases, three sides of the drum bases, as well as the engaged columns, architraves, eaves, and cornices. The Shenba Brick Pagoda boasts exquisite design and masterful carving artistry, making it the most uniquely constructed pagoda among the fourteen existing towers in the Nanchong region.

Protection boundary: 5 meters beyond the site’s footprint.