Description of the attraction
The Great Wild Goose Pagoda was built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty. There is a brick pagoda on the territory of the Dayanfu temple, 4 km from the center of Xi'an. The height of the building is 64.7 meters. Due to the destruction, the initial number of tiers was halved, but after that it was possible to reconstruct a third. Now the pagoda has seven tiers.
The construction work was carried out by order of Emperor Gao Zong of the Tang Dynasty, who thus wanted to perpetuate the memory of his mother. The name is associated with a legend: the Buddha passing by these places felt a great desire to taste the meat of wild geese, but overcame the temptation. The main purpose of the construction of the large pagoda was to preserve the sacred Buddhist texts and relics that the monk Xuan Zhang brought with him from India.
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is an amazing building in its architectural idea; it is a building entirely consisting of bricks, without mortar. The same method was used as during the construction of wooden structures by Chinese architects, the so-called "fork" method.
The sanctuary with three statues - the incarnations of Buddha Shakyamuni - is located on the lower tier. In one of the structures adjacent to the tier, there is a bell from the Ming dynasty. Bell weight 15 tons.
Each subsequent tier is smaller than the previous one. Each floor has beautifully carved arched doors. In 1958, a staircase was built, climbing up which you can admire a panoramic view of the surroundings.
An interesting custom developed during the Tang Dynasty. Each candidate for office wrote poems on the walls of the pagoda. Some even made whole poems. The work of several generations of Chinese officials has survived to this day.
The temple contains two rare steles with signatures of the emperors of the Tang Dynasty. They have been here for 1200 years. Also on the territory of the temple there is a forest of stupas.
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is located on the territory of the Da Chen temple complex, which was founded in 589. The temple experienced its heyday during the Tang Dynasty. After that, the temple complex gradually collapsed. Today, there are thirteen courtyards and 1879 rooms on the territory of the temple.
