Photos of Tianning Pagoda of Ningbo

Tianning Temple was built in the fifth year of Taizhong in the Tang Dynasty (851), formerly known as Guoning Temple. , destroyed by war, and soon rebuilt. In the second year of the Yuan Dynasty (1309), it was destroyed by Japanese pirates and then rebuilt. In the fifteenth year of Ming Hongwu (1382), it was changed to Tianning Temple. In modern times, it was renamed "Tianning Temple". There were two towers in front of the temple, and the east tower collapsed during the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty. In 1995, in cooperation with the renovation of Zhongshan, the archaeology of the east tower base was carried out, and the residual tower base was excavated. The existing one is the west tower of Tianning Temple. The reason is that there is an inscription on the pagoda bricks in the official book "Xiantong four years (863) to build this brick", and in 1995 when the West Tower was built, many pagoda bricks from the Xiantong period were discovered. Therefore, it is called "Chengtong Tower". Because the tower is relatively short and shaped like a tortoise, it is commonly known as "Turtle Tower". Tianning Temple Pagoda is a brick structure with a parabolic façade. The plane is square, each side is about 3.20 meters long, and there are five layers in total, which shrink layer by layer. Bricks are used to fold the eaves on each floor, and the eaves are far away, which is different from the common Tang pagodas in the north. The interior of the tower is cylindrical, with pot doors on all four sides of the bottom floor, and niches on each of the four walls above. The tower is about 12 meters high, with a wall thickness of about 0.76 meters and an area of 10.42 square meters. Tianning Temple Pagoda is the oldest brick pagoda of Tang Dynasty in Zhejiang Province, and it is also the only remaining example of the twin pagodas in front of the Tang Dynasty in my country. It plays an important role in the study of religious culture and Buddhist architecture in the Tang Dynasty. The West Tower has been restored to its original appearance. In 2003, the archaeological excavation of the Tianning Temple site was carried out, and the pattern of the temple east of the central axis in the Tang and Song Dynasties was basically clarified, and the original site is now protected.