Mazu Tempel Tianhou Temple, Quanzhou, Fujian

Mazu Tempel Tianhou Temple, Quanzhou, Fujian

Quanzhou Tianhou Palace, also known as Tianfei Palace, is a national key cultural relics protection unit. Located in Tianhou Road, Quanzhou City, it is known as the "Wenling Temple".

Tianhou Palace was founded in the second year of Song Qingyuan (AD 1 196), and was named "Shunji Temple" after the fourth year of Xuanhe in Song Huizong (AD 1 122). In the 15th year of Yuan Dynasty (A.D. 1278) and 18th year of Yuan Dynasty (A.D. 128 1), Yuan Shizu conferred Mazu as Tian Fei twice, and Shunji Temple was renamed Tianfei Palace. In the 23rd year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1684), on August 14th, it was "played by Shi Lang, the navy general of Hou Fujian, and was specially named Tianhou". Since then, Tianfei Palace has been renamed "Tianhou Palace". During the light years of Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1830- 1850), Mazu was named "Tiannv".

Tianhou Palace faces south, covering an area of more than 7,200 square meters. Its overall structure includes the mountain gate, the stage, the East-West Pavilion, the main hall, the East-West Corridor, the bedroom hall, the East-West Corridor, the Four Pavilions and the vegetarian restaurant. The original mountain gate collapsed and was rebuilt in 1990, with a width of 23.23 meters, a depth of 3.93 meters and a height of 9.42 meters. There are a pair of bluestone dragon columns in front, and the walls on both sides of the gate are embedded with unicorn stones and stone carving flower windows. Just before the two sides of the mountain gate, there were two east-west pavilions dedicated to Er Shen with clairvoyance and clairvoyance, and now they are all gone. The entrance is a newly-built stage, with a width of 6.4m, a depth of 5.15m and a height of 8m, facing the main hall and a wooden caisson structure. Tianhou Hall is the main building of the whole palace, with a width of 24.6 meters and a depth of 25.6 meters, covering an area of 635.5 square meters. It is supported by brick-wood structure, beam-lifting wood structure and round granite columns. The roof has nine ridges, double eaves and four slopes, the eaves gallery is a rolled shed, the four corners of the stigma are round embossed lotus beads, and the square arches are one after another. Have a unique style. The temple is dedicated to the statue of Tianhou, and behind the shrine is a large mural of Meizhou Island painted in the Qing Dynasty. There are a pair of carved dragon stone pillars on the front porch of the main hall, which are delicate and exquisite. The surrounding pedestals are 1 m higher than the ground, and the Xu Mi is carved with patterns such as "carp changing into dragons", "eight horses dancing with clouds and fire" and "crane dancing with clouds and fire". A pair of hexagonal bluestone carved stone pillars of Hindu temples in the Song and Yuan Dynasties are preserved on the eaves column. In front of the main hall is the Louting, and there are cloisters on the east and west sides of the court (thanks to the 24th Division of God, the west cloister has been abandoned, but the east cloister still exists). Behind the main hall, there is a dew hall for sleeping, with seven rooms wide and three rooms deep, which is a wooden structure in Ming Dynasty. The roof hangs on the top of the mountain, with two sides and three knives, and the wooden beams are rough and simple. Behind the sleeping hall is the dressing room, with seven bays of 35. 1 m and five bays of19.8m, with a height of 8m.

Tianhou Palace has been restored in the past dynasties. At present, in addition to the magnificent ancient buildings such as the main hall and the back hall, in recent years, with the enthusiastic support of believers at home and abroad, buildings such as the mountain gate, the stage, the bell and drum tower and the east-west corridor have been restored one after another. And will continue to rebuild the locker room. The "Museum of Fujian-Taiwan Relations History" in the palace contains a large number of precious historical and folk cultural relics.