Rare Ming Dynasty architecture in the vicinity of Chengdu, the nanmu column bases have withstood hundreds of years without decay

The national treasure Ganquan Temple is not far from the Shuangbao Archway, and a day of ancient visits can be well arranged together. When I went there, I was lucky that the temple doors were open, so there was no need to find the cultural management staff in the village. · Ganquan Temple is said to be a temple, but in fact, only the shell of the ancient building remains, with no incense offerings anymore. It has served as a school for a long time, and the previous school building can still be seen at the original mountain gate, which is currently being demolished. · And why is it called the original mountain gate? Because the mountain gate of Ganquan Temple has long been gone, now only two stone lions and two stone elephants remain, basically well-preserved, feeling like part of the archway, covered with green moss, very much the taste of time. However, the original warriors on the lions and elephants are no longer there, which is somewhat similar to the Shuangbao Archway. I wonder if they were made by the same group of craftsmen. · Passing through the original mountain gate, you can see the Mahavira Hall at the end of the towering ancient trees, which is the only remaining grand hall of Ganquan Temple and one of the few remaining Ming Dynasty buildings in Sichuan. According to the 'Renshou County Annals', 'Ganquan Temple is located east of the government, a temple from the early Ming Dynasty. The Buddha hall from the shield upwards is all made of stacked wood, without a single male or female tenon.' · The grand hall is a wooden structure with a single-eave Xieshan-style nine-ridge top, with a lifting beam-style beam frame at the front and back, and eight sets of rafters supported by four columns. There are 24 sets of bracket sets between the columns all around, each with six layers of construction, using double-layered qin-faced ang, and a total of 28 sets of bracket sets are applied on the two levels of lifting beams and accompanying beams inside, directly supporting the roof. · The most valuable thing is that the bases of the columns supporting the roof of this grand hall are all made of local large nanmu wood, which is of special material and has excellent moisture resistance. For hundreds of years, there has been no sign of deformation or decay. · Because the grand hall was locked, I couldn't enter to visit. It is said that there were originally more than 20 Ming Dynasty colored paintings depicting Buddha stories on the walls inside, but unfortunately, they were completely smeared with lime paste during a special period. However, as time passes, the lime paste has begun to peel off, and the original murals are slowly becoming visible. · Apart from the grand hall, the wing rooms next to the grand hall were built during the Qing Dynasty. The column bases of the corridor columns are very attractive, not only with exquisite carvings, but some also have traces of coloring. · On the other side of the grand hall is a pool built during the Ming Dynasty. The stone carvings on the walls around the pool are also exquisite and basically intact. According to its location, this pool should be a firefighting pool, showing that the ancients were also very conscious. · Among the five national treasures in Renshou, I personally think that Ganquan Temple is the least interesting one to see, no wonder it is only the seventh batch of national treasures. However, it is not difficult to reach and is worth a detour. · 🏠Name | Ganquan Temple 🎫Ticket | Free ⛳Address | Renshou County, Sichuan Province 🚗Transportation | Navigate to 'Ganquan Temple'