The "Hanging Temple", Shanxi, China.
The Hanging Temple (simplified Chinese: 悬空寺; traditional Chinese: 懸空寺; pinyin: Xuánkong Sì) is a temple built into a cliff (75 m above the ground) near Mount Heng in the province of Shanxi. The Hanging Temple is one of the main tourist attractions and historical sites in the Datong area. Built more than 1,500 years ago, this temple is notable not only for its location on a sheer precipice but also because it includes Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian elements. The building method is this: after a horizontal hole in the cliff is chiseled into the cliff, a beam is put through the hole out of the cliff and boards and pillars are connected to the beams to build various beam frames and roofs. Balusters are set around all the buildings outside the cliff. Looking from the top of the mountain, some impending wooden poles under the buildings that are far from the cliff are still visible. These wooden poles are set to protect the buildings. The temple was arranged in random from north to south, with a bluff inside and plank roads built along the face of the cliff. Beam frames are constructed up and down, and balusters are connected to each other.
Size: 3352px × 5009px
Location: Hanging Temple, Mount Heng, Datong, Shanxi, China
Photo credit: © Roberto Esposti / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: architecture, area, balcony, balusters, beam, bells, buddhism, buddhist, china, cliff, confucian, confucianism, daoism, datong, elements, frames, hanging, heng, holes, monastery, mount, mountain, people, poles, republic, roofs, shan-hsi, shanxi, shā, shānxī, statues, ta-ung, taoism, taoist, temple, tourists, wooden, xuánkong, zhōnghuá, àóng, éng, énmí, ì, ònghéguó, 中华人民共和国, 中華人民共和國, 大同, 山西, 山西省, 恆山, 恒山, 悬空寺, 懸空寺
