Wooden Pagoda

Fogong Si
Yingxian, Shanxi

The Wooden Pagoda in Ying County is the oldest all-timber pagoda still standing in China¹. The magnificent, 67m-tall (221 ft) building dates to 1056 (Liao dynasty, Empress Xiao), with renovation in 1195. Although it appears to have five outside storeys, there are four mezzanines inside, giving a total of nine floors altogether. The building can be circumambulated on the outside via its balconies, and on the inside around its centrally-placed altars.

¹There is a small Song-dynasty pagoda, made of wood surrounding an earthen core, at Dunhuang.