Beiyue Temple at Quyang曲阳北岳庙

Type

Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)

Location

China · Hebei · Quyang, Baoding · West of Quyang County town

Coordinates

38.62, 114.69 Map ↗

First built

Northern Wei (one account: earlier) · Site of sacrifice to the Northern Peak across the Tang, Song, Jin, and Yuan; gradually declined after the sacrifice was transferred to Hunyuan in the early Qing

Heritage status

Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (1982)

Overview

Beiyue Temple at Quyang was the officially sanctioned temple where the god of Mount Heng, the Northern Peak, was sacrificed to by successive dynasties before the Shunzhi era of the Qing. In the Han, sacrifices were offered here in view of Mount Heng from afar; Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei established a temple, and it was expanded further in the Tang, Song, and Yuan. Its present main structure, Dening Hall, was built in the seventh year of the Zhiyuan era of the Yuan (1270); it spans nine bays under a double-eaved hip roof, and is one of the largest surviving Yuan-dynasty timber-frame halls. Inside, the east and west walls preserve the Yuan-dynasty murals Chart of the Celestial Palace and Chart of Clouds Moving and Rain Falling, vast in scale, with flying deities and generals of tremendous force, traditionally said to derive from the painting style of Wu Daozi. The temple is dense with steles — over a hundred inscriptions from the Northern Wei, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing — an important body of physical evidence for the study of the sacrificial rites to the Northern Peak and the Daoist pantheon.

Highlights

• Dening Hall
• Yuan-Dynasty Murals
• Stele Collection