I was really shocked by Huayan Monastery in Datong (2)

Location: Huayan Monastery, 459 Xiapo St, Datong Ancient City, Pingcheng District, Datong, Shanxi Province 🎟️Tickets: The temple is huge and has many ancient buildings. Tickets are CNY 40 each, which is a great deal. You can book on Trip.com and enter easily. 🕐️Opening hours: 8:30 am–5:00 pm Huayan Monastery is home to Liao and Jin architecture, small wooden Tian Gong Lou Ge, painted sculptures, murals, and other cultural relics, all of which are among the best of their kind and hold an important place in the study of Chinese architectural, religious, and art history. The Puguangjiao Zang Hall in Huayan Monastery was built in the 7th year of the Chongxi era of the Liao dynasty (1038). It is five bays wide and four bays deep, with 38 small wooden pavilions and five "Tian Gong Lou Ge" arranged along the walls. Ingeniously crafted and exquisitely beautiful, it was praised by the famous architect Liang Sicheng as "a unique piece in the world." The hall is home to 29 painted sculptures from the Liao dynasty, which are considered masterpieces of Liao sculpture, especially the Bodhisattva with clasped hands and exposed teeth. The Huayan Pagoda is 43.5 meters tall and is a square wooden pagoda with a pure wooden mortise and tenon structure. It has a golden basin on top and a lotus pond at the bottom. The underground palace is made of 100 tons of pure copper and contains the relics of eminent monks and a thousand Buddha statues. It is a perfect combination of tradition and reality.