Kaifu Temple, Yangcheng, Shanxi

Kaifu Temple was established in the fourth year of Tianbao during the Northern Qi Dynasty (553 AD), originally named Wenshu Temple, and was renamed Kaifu Temple at the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty's Zhizheng period. The temple originally had three courtyards, but now only the Xian Hall, the Mahavira Hall, and the opera stage remain. It covers an area of 1,095 square meters, with a building area of 500 square meters. The Xian Hall, Mahavira Hall, and opera stage were built during the Jin, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties. The temple's glazed ridge decorations are uniquely distinctive; except for some glazed components of the Xian Hall that have collapsed, the rest of the glazed ridge decorations are well preserved. There is a stele from the Republic of China period, and the glazed ridge decoration on the opera stage bears the inscription: "Construction started in the fifth year of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty and completed in the eleventh year, supervised by the skilled glazed tile craftsmen Qiao Wunan and Qiao Zongguan." It is a nationally protected key cultural relic site.

Post by VictoriaMcDermott99 | Oct 21, 2025