Atlas of China
Xianshenlou 祆神楼Xiānshén Lóu
National heritage site · Jinzhong, Shanxi
- Time needed
- 30 minutes
- Days to budget
- Half a day
- City
- Jinzhong
- Region
- Shanxi
- Type
- Heritage
- Listed as
- National heritage site
About Xianshenlou
A pavilion-style tower over the street, combining a gateway, a stage tower and an overhead passage, first built in 1048 as part of a Zoroastrian temple and regarded as the only surviving Zoroastrian building in China. The temple was later turned into a temple of the three sworn brothers Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, and the tower and hall behind it were rebuilt in the 1660s and restored in the 1980s. It stands near the old east gate of Jiexiu and suits a short stop with the town's other temples.
How to get to Xianshenlou
In the north-east of Jiexiu's old town, near the former east gate in central Jiexiu.
Nearby
- Wang Family Compound 王家大院 20 km
Fortified courtyard 'castles' of a Qing merchant and official clan on a loess hillside - Mount Mian 绵山 20 km
Cliff temples, plank walkways and gorges on the mountain of the Cold Food legend - Shuanglin Temple 双林寺 20 km
Some 2,000 painted clay Buddhas, saints and guardians crowded into ten temple halls - Pingyao Ancient City 平遥古城 30 km
An intact Ming walled town of courtyard inns, where China's first draft banks were born
Also within 20 km: City God Temple, Jiexiu 介休城隍庙 (under 10 km), Wuyue Temple, Jiexiu 介休五岳庙 (under 10 km), Houtu Temple, Jiexiu 介休后土庙 (under 10 km), Zhangbi Castle 张壁古堡 (under 10 km), Yuanshen Temple, Jiexiu 洪山源神庙 (under 10 km), Tianqi Temple, Xiaoyi 孝义天齐庙 (10 km).
On the map
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