Taiwan's First Temple of Heaven, Tainan台南首庙天坛（天公庙）

Type: Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)
Location: Taiwan, China · Taiwan · West Central District, Tainan · No. 16, Lane 84, Section 2, Zhongyi Road, at Jiuling, the highest point of the old walled city; originally the site of the Ming-loyalist altar for sacrifices to Heaven
Coordinates: 22.9939, 120.204 Map ↗
School: Daoism in Taiwan
First built: Construction began in 1854 (4th year of the Xianfeng reign of Qing), completed in 1855 · Originally named "Tiangong Tan," renamed Tiantan in 1899; tradition holds that Koxinga built an altar here to sacrifice to Heaven in 1661, and in the early Qing there was only an incense burner maintained under a rotating steward system
Heritage status: Tainan Municipal Monument (originally designated a Third-Grade Monument in 1985)

Overview

Taiwan's First Temple of Heaven, commonly called Tiangong Temple, is dedicated primarily to the Jade Emperor, with the Three Pure Ones and the Three Officials worshipped alongside. Its site is at Jiuling, the highest point of the old walled city of Tainan; tradition holds that Koxinga built an altar here to sacrifice to Heaven in the fifteenth year of Yongli of the Ming (1661). For a long time in the early Qing there was only an incense burner maintained under a rotating steward system, with no temple building, until in the fourth year of Xianfeng (1854) it was finally built through joint funding by officials and the public, completed the following year, and named Tiangong Tan; it was renamed Tiantan (Temple of Heaven) in 1899. This temple worships the Jade Emperor with a "sacred tablet" rather than an image, an important formal feature of Jade Emperor worship in Taiwan. The plaque bearing the single character "One," hung high in the main hall, is 186.3 centimeters long, 66.8 centimeters wide, and 4.3 centimeters thick, taking its meaning from the saying "however you calculate, it is not worth a single stroke of Heaven's," and is surrounded by an eighty-four-character admonitory palindrome; together with the "You Have Come" plaque at the Taiwanfu City God Temple and the "Understanding the World" plaque at Zhuxi Temple, it is counted among the three famous plaques of the old walled city. It is one of the "Three and a Half Tiangong Temples of Taiwan." It was designated a third-class historic monument on November 27, 1985, and later reclassified as a municipally designated historic monument.

Highlights

The "One" plaque and its eighty-four-character palindrome
Worshipping the Jade Emperor with a sacred tablet
Jiuling, the former site of Ming-loyalist sacrifices to Heaven
One of the three famous plaques of the old walled city

References