Qiyun Tower

The Qiyun Tower is about 25 meters high and has 13 floors. The base of the tower is a square waisted Sumeru pedestal with each side about 7.8 meters long and the length and width of the waist are 6.76 meters respectively. The main building material of Qiyun Tower is bricks. The tower is well preserved, with a rigorous structure and a seamless whole. Under the eaves of the first floor, there are imitation wooden structure Pube beams and one-bucket-three-liter arches. Each layer above the first layer is built with multiple layers of small bricks to form the eaves of the tower. The first layer of small bricks on each eaves of the tower are decorated with diamond-shaped teeth. The largest circumference of the tower is at the middle of the tower, that is, at the eaves of the fourth and fifth floors. Starting from the sixth floor, the eaves of the tower are gradually retracted, and the top of the tower is covered with a vase-shaped pagoda. The outer contour of Qiyun Tower is slightly parabolic from bottom to top, with a unique shape and soft and smooth lines. There are steps inside the tower, which can be used to climb up. On the tenth floor, there is a door facing south, commonly known as the "Nantianmen". Go out of this door to the outside of the tower, climb up three more floors, and you will reach the top of the tower. Qiyun Pagoda, located about 200 meters southeast of the mountain gate of White Horse Temple in Luoyang City, was originally called Sakyamuni Relic Pagoda, Jinfang Pagoda, and White Horse Temple Pagoda. It was first built during the Yongping period of the Eastern Han Dynasty and rebuilt in the Jin Dynasty. Qiyun Tower is the earliest existing ancient building on the ground in Luoyang and one of the few remaining Jin Dynasty buildings in the Central Plains. The shape of the tower has the characteristics of dense-eaves pavilion-style towers in the Tang and Song dynasties, and adopts an imitation wood structure approach, providing a rare physical example for studying the architectural characteristics of the Jin Dynasty, especially the structural characteristics of Jin Dynasty brick towers in the Central Plains. Judging from the tower's shape and internal structure, the tower has high historical, scientific and artistic value. In 1961, the State Council announced White Horse Temple and Qiyun Pagoda as national key cultural relics protection sites. The construction of Qiyun Pagoda began in the 12th year of Yongping in the Eastern Han Dynasty (69 AD), which was the second year after the completion of White Horse Temple. Emperor Ming of Han, Liu Zhuang, ordered the construction of Qiyun Pagoda. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Qiyun Tower was rebuilt and destroyed several times due to wars. After the Five Dynasties, King Zhuangwu Li (Li Jixun) built a nine-story wooden pagoda. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the wooden pagoda was burned down by a "fire".