Foguang Temple 佛光寺

About Foguang Temple

Its broad seven-bay front stands above a hillside courtyard, giving the hall a commanding presence without elaborate later ornament. The Manjusri Hall and the small Zushi Pagoda add contrasting periods and scales to the complex. Look closely at the roof supports and the relationship between the hall and its raised platform; the building itself is as important as the religious figures inside.

Foguang Temple was established in the fifth century during the Northern Wei dynasty. An active building period between 785 and 820 produced a three-storey, 32-meter pavilion, but the temple was burned to the ground during Emperor Wuzong's suppression of Buddhism in 845, leaving only the Zushi Pagoda standing. It was rebuilt in 857, when the Dongda Hall was raised on the pavilion's former site with funds from a woman named Ning Gongyu and construction led by the monk Yuancheng; the Wenshu Hall, dedicated to Manjusri, was added in 1137 during the Jin dynasty. Architectural historians Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin rediscovered the temple in 1937.

The complex covers approximately 8.4 acres and contains more than 120 structures dating from the Northern Wei to the Qing dynasty, including one of only two surviving Northern Wei pagodas in China. Built in 857, the Dongda Hall is the third earliest preserved timber structure in China and the only building to combine Tang-dynasty architecture, sculpture, mural painting and calligraphic inscriptions in a single structure, a combination known as the 'Four Supremacies'. The temple is inscribed as part of the Mount Wutai UNESCO World Heritage Site.

What to look for

• East Great Hall, built in 857, with its timber bracket structure and surviving Tang artistic material.
• Manjusri Hall and Zushi Pagoda, which reveal other periods of the temple's history.

Location & getting there

Getting to Foguang Temple

Foguang Temple is near Doucun in Wutai County, outside Taihuai's central temple cluster; arrange a road visit specifically to this site.

• Allow for the hillside approach and confirm access to the historic hall before travelling.