Saturday, June 27, 2009

China’s sacred Buddhist Mount Wutai inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List


26 June 2009
The Mount Wutai (五台山),a sacred Buddhist mountain in China that has witnessed to centuries of Buddhist history was added Friday to UNESCO's World Heritage List during the 33rd session of the World Heritage Committee in Seville, Spain.

The site is in Wutai County, Xinzhou City in Shanxi Province, 230 kilometers from the provincial capital, Taiyuan City.

Mount Wutai, literally, the five terrace mountain, is the highest mountain in northern China and is remarkable for its morphology characterized by precipitous sides with five open treeless peaks. Temples have been built on the site since the 1st century AD to the early 20th century.

The cultural landscape numbers 53 monasteries and includes the East Main Hall of Foguang Temple, the highest surviving timber Building of the Tang Dynasty with life size clay sculptures. It also features the Ming Dynasty Shuxiang Temple with a huge complex of 500 statues representing Buddhist stories woven into three dimensional pictures of mountains and water.

Overall, the buildings on the site present a catalogue of the way Buddhist architecture developed and influenced palace building in China over more than one millennium.

1 comment:

  1. Nice post. There are Five Tallest Buddha Statues In The World. Spring Temple Buddha this is a tallest statue located in Zhaocun township of Lushan County, Henan, China. Laykyun Setkyar this statue is situated in Khatakan Taung village in Monywa, Sagaing Division, Myanmar. Ushiku Daibutsu this statue located in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Ushiku Daibutsu is also called Ushiku Arcadia. Guanyin Statue located in south coast of China’s island province of Hainan.Grand Buddha at Ling Shan south of the Longshan Mountain near Mashan town of Wuxi in Jiangsu Province of China. For more details refer Spring temple buddha

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