The Sakyamuni Pagoda of Fogong Temple, also known as the Wooden Pagoda of Yingxian County, is located within the Fogong Temple in Yingxian County, Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province. First built in 1056, during the second year of the Qingning era of the Liao Dynasty, it is the world’s tallest and oldest surviving all-wood, multi-storied structure. It is hailed as one of the “Three Great Towers of the World,” along with the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
The pagoda stands 67.31 meters tall, with a base diameter of 30.27 meters and a total weight of over 7,400 metric tons. The material used for its main structure is North China Larch, while the dougong brackets (intricate interlocking wooden brackets) are made of elm wood, with the total timber used amounting to over ten thousand cubic meters. The entire building consists of three parts: the base, the body, and the pagoda finial. The base is divided into two levels: a lower square platform and an upper octagonal one. The body of the pagoda is octagonal in shape. While it appears to have five stories and six eaves from the outside, it is in fact a nine-story structure, comprising five visible floors and four hidden interstitial layers. The Sakyamuni Pagoda is a classic example in the history of world wooden architecture, a valuable landmark in the development of Chinese construction, a treasure trove of knowledge for scientific research in fields such as earthquake resistance and lightning protection, and a “historical classic” for studying the economic and cultural development of its era.
A total of 52 plaques and six pairs of poetic couplets hang both inside and outside the pagoda. Among them, the plaque (meaning “Divine Work of Sublime Height”) was personally inscribed by Emperor Chengzu (Zhu Di) of the Ming Dynasty, while (meaning “Magnificent Spectacle under Heaven) was written by Emperor Wuzong (Zhu Houzhao) of the Ming Dynasty. In 1966 and 1974, two Buddha’s tooth relics were discovered within the pagoda, which have been verified as authentic relics of Sakyamuni Buddha. The Wooden Pagoda of Yingxian County is truly a paragon of ancient world architecture, as well as a center and holy site of Buddhist culture. On March 4, 1961, the Sakyamuni Pagoda of Fogong Temple was designated by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China as one of the first “Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level.” In September 2016, it was certified by Guinness World Records as the “World's Tallest Wooden Pagoda.”
First Review by Zhan Xia
Second Review by Zhang Jian
Final Review by Wang Rouhua
