Songyue Pagoda

The Songyue Pagoda, constructed in 523 CE, is located at the Songyue Monastery on Mount Song, in Henan province, China.Yetts, 124.] Built during the Northern Wei Dynasty, this pagoda is one of the few intact sixth-century pagodas in China and is also the earliest known Chinese brick pagoda. Most structures from that period were made of wood and have not survived.

The spread of Buddhism dramatically influenced Chinese architecture. By the sixth century, Buddhism had spread with tremendous momentum throughout China: Chinese culture was adjusting and adapting its traditions to include Indian Buddhism forms of worship. The Chinese transformed the rounded earthen mound of the South Asian stupa into the towering pagoda to house the sacred buried relics of Buddha at its core.cite book
first=Francis D.K.
last= Ching et al
year= 2007
title= A Global History of Architecture
edition=
publisher=John Wiley and Sons
location=New York
pages= p. 275
id= ISBN 0-471-82451-3] cite web
year=
month=
url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/TR-e/43208.htm
title=Songyue Temple Pagoda in Dengfeng of Henan Province
publisher=china.org.cn
accessdate=2007-09-11 ]

The unique many-sided shape of the Songyue Pagoda suggests that it represents an early attempt to merge the Chinese architecture of straight edges with the circular style of Indian Buddhism. The perimeter of the pagoda decreases as it rises. As this is seen in Indian and Central Asian Buddhist cave temple pillars and the later round pagodas in China, the changing pagoda shape over time supports the Indian Buddhist origins of the style.cite book
first=Fu
last= Xinian
year= 2002
title=Chinese Architecture -- The Three Kingdoms, Western and Eastern Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties
edition= English Ed.
publisher=Yale University Press
location=
pages= pp 86–87, 89
id= ISBN 0-300-09559-7 ]

tyle

The Songyue Pagoda is unique in form, being twelve-sided. The tower is 40 m (131 ft) high and built of yellowish brick held together with clay mortar.cite book
first=Fu
last= Xinian
year= 2002
title=Chinese Architecture -- The Three Kingdoms, Western and Eastern Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties
edition= English Ed.
publisher=Yale University Press
location=
pages= pp 62, 86–87, 89
id= ISBN 0-300-09559-7 ] It is the oldest surviving pagoda and was built at a time when, according to records, almost all pagodas were of wood.

The pagoda has a low, plain brick pedestal or base, and a very high first story characteristic of pagodas with multiple eaves, with balconies dividing the first story into two layers and doors connecting the two parts. The ornamented arch doors and decorative apses or niches are intricately carved into teapots or lions. At the base of the door pillars are carvings shaped as lotus flowers and the pillar capitals have carved pearls and lotus flowers. After the first story there are fifteen closely spaced roofs lined with eaves and small lattice windows. The pagoda features densely clustered ornamental bracked eaves in the "dougong" style ornamenting each story. Inside the pagoda, the wall is cylindrical with eight levels of projecting stone supports for what was probably wooden flooring originally. Beneath the pagoda is an underground series of burial rooms to preserve cultural objects buried with the dead. The inner most chamber contained Buddhist relics, transcripts of Buddhist scriptures and statues of Buddha.

At its core, the Songyue Pagoda has a massive central brick pillar with every story connected to it. The stairs, passageways, walls, balconies and eaves are all built of brick or stone and connected together and to the core pillar, producing an integrated whole. The floors were supported by arches and stacked bricks around the central pillar.cite web
year=
month=
url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/43490.htm
title=Structures of Pagodas
publisher=china.org.cn
accessdate=2007-09-11 ] Viewing the Songyue Pagoda from the outside, the elegant contour is of a smooth parabola, a towering, graceful edifice demonstrating a high level of artistic design.

ee also

*Chinese pagoda
*Dhamek Stupa

Footnotes

References

*Yetts, Perceval W. "Writings on Chinese Architecture," "The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs" (Volume 50, Number 288, 1927): 116–131.