#Liuzhou Kaiyuan Temple Travel Recommendations for 2024 (Updated in May)
Address:
廣西壯族自治區柳州市魚峯區柳石路289號
I visited the beautiful Kaiyuan Temple in Liuzhou with my family over the weekend, appreciating its unique historical and cultural heritage
📍Detailed address:
289, Lane 7, West Liushi Road, Yufeng District, Liuzhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, within the Dule Rock Scenic Area.
🚗Transportation routes:
●Bus: You can take bus routes 21, 94, etc. to get there.
●Self-driving: There is a parking lot outside the scenic area, and the parking fee is 10 yuan per time.
Attraction recommendations
●Kaiyuan Temple: Located within the Dule Rock Scenic Area, it was founded during the Kaiyuan era of the Tang Dynasty (713-741) and is the largest Buddhist temple in Guangxi. The main hall is a double-eaved dome structure imitating the Tang Dynasty's all-wood construction, with a huge white marble bas-relief in the middle of the stone steps in front of the hall.
●Dule Stele Forest: One of the main attractions of Dule Park, it includes a calligraphy stele gallery, the Orchid Pavilion Preface stele, and the Ink Pool, among others.
●Jade Buddha Hall: A testament to the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Thailand, it features Thai-style architecture and houses a treasure of the temple—a fossilized tree from the Madagascar desert in Africa.
🕙Opening hours: 8:00-17:00,
🌟Highlights:
Liuzhou Kaiyuan Temple combines functions of Buddhism, culture, ecology, tourism, and leisure, and is currently the largest Buddhist temple in Guangxi. It covers an area of about 80,000 square meters, with a total construction area of about 20,000 square meters, and the main buildings are modeled after the Tang Dynasty style. Inside the temple, there are the Mahavira Hall, the Heavenly King Hall, the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower, etc. The Mahavira Hall is an all-wood structure connected by mortise and tenon joints, with a height of 26 meters above the ground, a double-eaved dome, and a dome span of about 18 meters, which is very rare in its majestic atmosphere. The Heavenly King Hall is the first hall of Kaiyuan Temple, a single-eaved Xieshan-style building, grand and solemn, open and atmospheric, housing sculptures of Vajra. Past the Heavenly King Hall, on the left is the Bell Tower, and on the right is the Drum Tower, both are three-story brick and wood pavilions with green tiles and flying eaves, simple and elegant. The Bell Tower houses the statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, and the Drum Tower houses the statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva, both of which are painted in vivid colors, with lifelike figures.
LILIANA WATKINS
The little-known Liuzhou Kaiyuan Temple, the largest Tang-style temple in Guangxi!
Liuzhou Kaiyuan Temple is located within the Duleyan Scenic Area, and was originally built during the Kaiyuan era of the Tang Dynasty (713-741). The original site was at the Liu Hou Temple, where the traveler Xu Xiake stayed in 1637.
In the 26th year of Kaiyuan (739), Emperor Xuanzong of Tang decreed that a 'Kaiyuan Temple' should be built in each county as an official temple, mainly responsible for the state's ceremonial rites. The Song Dynasty poet Lü Benzhong wrote in a summer rain, 'The wind and rain are bleak as in late autumn, crows return and doors close, accompanying the secluded monk.'
Liuzhou Kaiyuan Temple is the largest Buddhist temple in Guangxi, with the main hall being a double-eaved dome structure in full wood imitating Tang Dynasty architecture. In the middle of the stone steps in front of the hall, there is a huge white marble bas-relief.
The Jade Buddha Hall is a testament to the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Thailand, with a style that greatly exceeds the usual. The temple's treasure is a piece of petrified wood originating from the deserts of Madagascar in Africa.