Fengguo Temple 250124

Fengguo Temple, also known as Dafosi Temple, is located in Yixian County, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province. It was first built in the 9th year of the Kaitai period of the Liao Dynasty (1020) and is one of the three major temples of the Liao Dynasty in China. Fengguo Temple faces south and covers an area of about 60,000 square meters. It currently has the rebuilt outer gate, the inner gate rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty, the archway, the bell pavilion, the stele pavilion, the Hall of Heavenly Kings, and the Mahavira Hall built in the Liao Dynasty and preserved to this day. The Mahavira Hall is the main building of Fengguo Temple. It is a five-ridge, single-eave, hipped roof building supported by a wooden structure composed of beams, columns, beams, brackets, and arches. It has nine rooms in width and five rooms in depth, meaning "supreme power." The Mahavira Hall is the only Liao Dynasty building preserved in Fengguo Temple. It is also the largest and highest-grade wooden structure among the ancient Buddhist temple relics in China and is known as the "No. 1 Mahavira Hall in China." Its exquisite architectural skills, ingenious structural design, and ultimate aesthetic art represent the highest level of Chinese architecture in the 11th century. Inside the Mahavira Hall of Fengguo Temple, there are the world's oldest, largest, and most exquisite painted clay sculptures of the Liao Dynasty - the "Seven Buddhas of the Past," as well as Bodhisattvas, Vajra Warriors, painted beams of the Liao Dynasty, murals of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the Guanyin statue of the Ming Dynasty, and many precious cultural heritages such as steles, plaques, and stone carvings from the Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. In 1961, it was announced as one of the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units.