At the northeast of the Forbidden City lies an elegant and ancient temple named Lama Temple. It is the largest and the best preserved lamasery in Beijing. The Lama Temple where the young prince Yongzheng lived was first built in the 33rd year Kangxi, Qing Dynasty (1694). In the 3rd year that Yongzheng ascended the throne, this place was given the name Lama Temple. People regarded the Lama Temple as a lucky place because Yongzheng once lived here and then became one of the emperors in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and numerous tourists both domestic and abroad come here each year.
The Lama Temple which is 400m long from south to north covers an area of 66,000sqm. It includes five buildings and three courtyards. The buildings here imitated the style of Han, Manchu, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet. The whole building complex can be divided into three parts- east part, middle part and west part. The middle part is on the axle line. From south to north lie the Arch Courtyard (Pailou Yuan), the Gate of Zhaotai (Zhaotai Men), the Hall of Heavenly Kings (Tianwang Dian), the Hall of Harmony and Peace (Yonghegong Dian), the Hall of Blessing (Yongyou Dian) , the Hall of Dharma Wheel (Falun Dian), the Ten-Thousand-Happiness Pavilion (Wanfu Ge), and so on.
There are "three bests"in Lama Temple. The first to be mentioned is the statue of Maitreya in the Ten- Thousand-Happiness Pavilion (Wanfu Ge). The statue of Maitreya was carved out of a single trunk of white sandalwood. It is 26m high, 8m in diameter, 18m above the ground and 8m underground. According to historical record, it was a gift for Emperor Qianlong from the 17th Dalai Lama. The second "Best"is the big sculpture of "Five Hundred Arhats Mountain"in the Hall of Dharma Wheel (Falun Dian). The sculptured mountain is carved out of black sandalwood with 500 arhats, and cast in gold, silver, copper, iron and tin. All 500 uniquely styled arhats are vividly carved and exquisitely engraved. The sculpture is of very high value due to the excellent craftsmanship. The last one is the Golden Niche which was made of nanmu. All of those make the Lama Temple mystical and attract more people.



Name:Beijing Lama Temple (Yonghe Gong)
City:Beijing
Address:Dongcheng District, Beijing
Admission:CNY25
Hours: 09:00 am-04:30 pm
Tel: 0086-10-64044499

This article was posted on 2007-09-25
This article has been viewed times.