Buddhist architecture Anyang Lingquan Temple Double Stone Pagoda

Buddhist architecture Anyang Lingquan Temple Double Stone Pagoda

The twin stone pagoda of Anyang Lingquan Temple, carved in the Tang Dynasty, is located in the courtyard of Lingquan Temple, with two pagodas, east and west, and is a national key cultural relic protection unit.

The West Tower of the Double Stone Pagoda in Lingquan Temple is a dense-eaved tower with a square plane, which consists of a tower foundation and a tower body. The tower brake no longer exists. The tower has nine floors, with a height of 5.56m, one floor is high, and more than eight floors are low, with dense eaves and parabolic shape, which is beautiful and dignified as a whole. Taki, in the form of friends, is engraved with maiko and prostitute, which is very dynamic. There are two arches in the middle of the four sides of the lower part of the tower. There is an arch in the south of the tower, and a faucet is carved in the center of the lintel. On the first floor, the upper part of the tower is a Buddha statue with a flying dragon carved on the left and right. The inscription "Xian Tong worshiped Anyang from Zongcheng in May of the eighth year" on the tower indicates that the tower was built before the eighth year of Tang Xiantong (867). On the first floor, there are three layers of inverted eaves carved under each eaves, and the tower and eaves gradually shrink from bottom to top. The upper tower is low, and the south floors are carved with arch-shaped niches, among which there is a sitting Buddha, and two flying skies are carved on the Buddha's backlight. The ventricle of the pagoda is 95 cm high, and there are five high-relief Buddha statues on the front of the inner wall, namely Sakyamuni, his disciples and Bodhisattva.

The East Tower is basically the same as the West Tower, and consists of tower foundation and tower body. The pagoda and the ninth pagoda no longer exist, with a total height of 5.2m On the east outer wall of the pagoda, there are inscriptions by tourists from the 6th year of the Tang Dynasty (77 1). The plane of the tower is square, and the tower on the first floor is tall and carved with flying sky, which is symmetrical left and right. Two flying people hold up a small tower with their hands. Below the flying people are a pair of dragons. The towers of the above seven floors are low, and the eaves shrink from bottom to top in a parabolic shape. Every floor of this tower is simple. The tomb of the tower is square and contains five statues with the same theme as the West Tower.

East Tower (provided by Du)

West Tower (provided by Du)

Elevation view of East Tower (provided by Wenxuan)

Elevation of West Tower (provided by Wenxuan)