Foguang Temple

Foguang Temple was built during the period of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty. It is the second oldest existing wooden structure in China, second only to the Nanchan Temple Hall in Wutai County. The Foguang Temple Hall is the earliest wooden structure of the Tang Dynasty discovered in modern China. It also contains statues, murals, and ink inscriptions of the Tang Dynasty. It integrates four relics of the Tang Dynasty, so it is called "China's first national treasure" by architect Liang Sicheng. During the Tang Dynasty, Foguang Temple was one of the "Top Ten Temples" in Wutai Mountain. Faxing Zen Master built a Maitreya Pavilion up to 32 meters high in the temple. In the fifth year of Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty (845), the Buddha was destroyed, and the Buddha Light Temple was destroyed, and only one ancestral pagoda survived. In 847, Emperor

Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty succeeded to the throne, Buddhism revived, and the Buddha Temple was rebuilt. At this time, the hall was rebuilt on the site of the former Maitreya Pavilion. The Foguang Temple Hall of Wutai Mountain, Shanxi Province, is a model of early wooden architecture in China. The five-generation mural "Wutai Mountain Map" in Dunhuang draws an image of Wutai Mountain Dafoguang Temple. The Tang Dynasty architecture, Tang Dynasty sculptures, Tang Dynasty murals and Tang Dynasty inscriptions of Foguang Temple are of high historical and artistic value and are called the "Four Jue". Foguang Temple East Hall is one of the most important representatives of the wooden architectural relics of the Tang Dynasty. It is of great significance to understanding and studying the culture before the Tang Dynasty, and also has high academic research value, as well as the early underground relics in the region and the East Hall.