The Great Wild Goose Pagoda was built in 652, during the Tang Dynasty. The brick pagoda is located on the territory of Dayanfu Temple, 4 km from the city centre of Xi'an. The height of the building is 64.7 metres. Due to the destruction of the original number of tiers was reduced by half, but after it was possible to reconstruct a third. Now the pagoda has seven tiers.
Construction work was carried out by order of Emperor Gao Zong of the Tang dynasty, who thus wanted to immortalise the memory of his mother. The name is connected with the legend: passing by these places Buddha had a great desire to taste the meat of wild geese, but overcame the temptation. The main purpose of the construction of the Great Pagoda was to store sacred Buddhist texts and relics brought by the monk Xuan Zhang from India.
The Great Pagoda of Wild Geese is an amazing building in terms of its architectural design, it is a structure made entirely of bricks, without bonding mortar. The method used was the same as that used when Chinese architects built wooden structures, the so-called "fork" method.
The sanctuary with three statues - incarnations of Shakyamuni Buddha - is located on the lower tier. One of the structures adjacent to the tier houses a bell from the Ming Dynasty. The bell weighs 15 tonnes.
Each successive tier is smaller than the previous one. Each tier has arched doors covered with beautiful carvings. In 1958, a staircase was built, up which you can admire the panoramic view of the neighbourhood.
An interesting custom developed during the Tang Dynasty. Each candidate for officialdom wrote poems on the walls of the pagoda. Some of them even wrote whole poems. The work of several generations of Chinese officials has survived to our days.
In the temple there are two rare steles with the signatures of the emperors of the Tang dynasty. They have been here for 1,200 years. There is also a forest of stupas on the temple grounds.
The Great Wild Goose Pagoda is located on the territory of the Da Chen temple complex, which was founded in 589. The temple experienced its heyday during the Tang Dynasty. After that, the temple complex was gradually destroyed. Today, the temple has thirteen courtyards and 1,879 rooms.
