HomeSacred Sites › Yangtai Palace

Yangtai Palace阳台宫

Type
Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)
Location
China · Henan · Jiyuan · North of Yugong Village, Wangwu Town, Jiyuan City, at the southern foot of Huagai Peak, Mount Wangwu
Coordinates
35.124, 112.274 Map
School
Shangqing (Highest Clarity) School, Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism
First built
Tang, fifteenth year of Kaiyuan (727) · Founded by Sima Chengzhen by imperial order; Emperor Xuanzong personally inscribed 'Liaoyang Hall'; rebuilt in the Jin and Yuan; the surviving structures date from reconstruction during the Zhengde era of the Ming
Heritage status
Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (2006)

Overview

The Yangtai Palace was built in the fifteenth year of the Kaiyuan era of the Tang (727) at a site selected by Sima Chengzhen on Mount Wangwu at the order of Emperor Xuanzong, who personally wrote the inscription 'Liaoyang Hall' for it; it became a major stronghold of the Shangqing school in the Central Plains during the Tang. It was destroyed by warfare during the Zhenyou era of the Jin and rebuilt in the Yuan; the surviving Sanqing Hall and Yuhuang Pavilion are Ming-dynasty reconstructions from the eighth year of the Zhengde era (1513). The Sanqing Hall is five bays wide with a single-eave hip-and-gable roof; its stone and eave columns are carved with cloud dragons, cranes and Daoist tales, and painted decoration on the roof frame survives; the Yuhuang Pavilion is a triple-eaved tower-style structure and a landmark building of Mount Wangwu. The palace preserves more than twenty steles from the Yuan, Ming and Qing, including a stele bearing an imperial edict of Kublai Khan (Shizu of Yuan). It was restored after the 1990s and is today the center of Daoist activity on Mount Wangwu.

Highlights

  • Carved dragon stone columns of the Sanqing Hall
  • Yuhuang Pavilion
  • Yuan-dynasty imperial edict stele
  • Remains associated with Sima Chengzhen

Related figures

Sima Chengzhen