Longshan Temple in Tainan

Longshan Temple in Tainan

Longshan Temple in Tainan is a cultural tourism attraction.

The predecessor of Longshan Temple in Tainan was a thatched hut made of straw bags used to hold incense ash, built during the Ming Zheng period to enshrine Guanyin Bodhisattva. By the 54th year of the Kangxi reign (1715), devotees formally constructed a Guanyin Hall using limestone outside the eastern gate and carved a statue of Guanyin. Later, in the 43rd year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1778), Jiang Yuanxu, the Taiwan Prefect, allocated funds for its reconstruction, and 11 years later (1789), under the leadership of the gentry Wang Gongzhao, it was renovated again. After that, Longshan Temple in Tainan underwent multiple renovations in the 23rd year of the Daoguang reign (1843), the 10th year of the Tongzhi reign (1871), and the 10th year of the Guangxu reign (1884). It was eventually rebuilt and preserved at its current location during the Japanese colonial period by Xu Xuanqi, Xu Chaocheng, Cai Tianfu, Liu Wang, and others.

The current Longshan Temple in Tainan is a three-story reinforced concrete building, with a hip-and-gable roof designed to imitate the “upturned eaves” style of traditional architecture, featuring red tiles with upturned edges. The roof tiles are modern glazed tiles. The first floor houses the Guanyin Hall, the second floor is the Mahavira Hall, and the third floor is the Great Compassion Hall, which enshrines the Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed Guanyin. Although this temple is not a Qing Dynasty structure, it still retains some cultural relics such as ancient Qing Dynasty plaques, which are a major attraction for visitors.

Tainan Longshan Temple

Must-visit reason: One of the most famous attractions in Tainan