Foguang Temple

Foguang Temple
The Great East Hall of the Foguang Temple
Religion
Affiliation	Buddhist
Province	Shanxi
Location
Location	Wutaishan
Shown within Shanxi Show map of Shanxi Foguang Temple (China) Show map of China
Geographic coordinates	38°52′09″N 113°23′16″E / 38.86917°N 113.38778°E / 38.86917; 113.38778
Architecture
Completed	857 CE Tang dynasty

Foguang Temple
"Foguang Temple" in Chinese characters
Chinese	佛光寺
Literal meaning	"Temple of Buddha's Light"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Fóguāng sì IPA [fwǒ.kwáŋ sɹ̩̂] Wu Suzhounese Véh-kuaõn zŷ Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Faht-gwōng jih Jyutping Fat6-gwong1 zi6 IPA [fɐt̚˨.kʷɔːŋ˥ tsiː˨] Southern Min Tâi-lô Pu̍t-kng sī (col.) Hu̍t-kong sī (lit.)

Foguang Temple (Chinese: 佛光寺) is a Buddhist temple located five kilometres from Doucun, Wutai County, Shanxi Province of China. The major hall of the temple is the Great East Hall, built in 857 AD, during the Tang dynasty (618–907). According to architectural records, it is the third earliest preserved timber structure in China. It was rediscovered by the 20th-century architectural historian Liang Sicheng (1901–1972) in 1937, while an older hall at Nanchan Temple was discovered by the same team a year later.^[1] The temple also contains another significant hall dating from 1137 called the Manjusri Hall. In addition, the second oldest existing pagoda in China (after the Songyue Pagoda), dating from the 6th century, is located in the temple grounds.^[2] Today the temple is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site and is undergoing restoration.