Yingxian Wooden Pagoda 🛕

#discoverchina Ying County Wooden Pagoda (also known as Buddha Palace Temple Shakyamuni Tower) was built in 1056 AD. The tower is 67.31 meters high, the ground floor diameter is 30.27 meters, and the total weight is about 7,400 tons. It is the tallest and oldest existing solid wood structure pavilion building in the world. In September 2016, it was certified as the "world's tallest wooden tower" by the Guinness World Records. The wooden pagoda of Yingxian County is stable and dignified, well-proportioned and has a beautiful outline. In ancient books, it is called "the beauty of the floating map, and the first one in the universe". Ying County Wooden Pagoda is located in the Buddhist temple in the northwest corner of the old city of Ying County, Shanxi Province. It is the main building of the temple. The Buddha Palace Temple faces north and south, covering an area of about 25,000 square meters. The whole central axis is prominent. From south to north, there are Shanmen, Shakyamuni Pagoda and Daxiong Hall. Shakyamuni Pagoda is located in the center of the temple, followed by Daxiong Hall. The Bell and Drum Tower is located on the east and west sides of the front of the temple and was built in the Ming Dynasty. The main body of the wooden tower is made of North China larch, and the arch is made of elm. The wood consumption is as high as tens of thousands of cubic meters. The whole building consists of three parts: the tower base, the tower body and the tower. The tower base is divided into upper and lower floors. The lower floor is square, and the upper layer is octagonal. The tower is octagonal, with five layers and six eaves in appearance, but it is actually a four-nine-story tower with five bright and dark. The tower is composed of a base, a lotus, a phase wheel, a round light, an eye, a treasure cover and a pearl, which is cleverly made and integrated with the tower. There are 59 different forms and hundreds of arches above and below the whole tower (the arches can not only share the weight of the pillars, but also buffer and disperse external forces), just like blooming lotus flowers decorated all over the tower. There are many kinds in China and are known as the "Arch Museum". Ancient books praise it as "Optimus Prime from a distance, similar to a hundred-foot lotus". In terms of structure, the design of the Yingxian wooden tower is more ingenious. There is no iron nail on the top and bottom of the whole tower, and it is all made of wooden components that bite each other. #shanxi