Baoguo Temple

Located at the foot of Lingshan in the suburb of Ningbo and 15 kilometers away from the center of Ningbo City, Baoguo Temple has a history of about 970 years. The original temple was founded in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), and the main hall of the present Baoguo Temple was reconstructed in Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). Composed of the Temple Gate, Hall of Heavenly King and other buildings, Baoguo Temple covers an area of more than 13 thousand square meters.

History

Baoguo Temple has a long history. In Eastern Han Dynasty, General Zhang Yi and his son Zhang Qifang retired to live in this place because they loved the quite mountains and the transparent water here.

After their death and the introduction of the Buddhism, their house was built into temple. Because of its location on Lingshan, it was called its original name Lingshan Temple. But it was destroyed in 845.

In 847, Lingshan Temple was recovered and in 880, Lingshan Temple was renamed Baoguo Temple. Xingzong, Emperor in Tang Dynasty (618-907), prayed to use this name baoguo to protect his regime. But he didn’t achieve his dream. The temple also contains columns of the Tang Dynasty, a hall dating back to Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and two halls and towers of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Collections in Baoguo Temple

There are 17 galleries with 21th century science and technology major inventions and discoveries show, Buddhism Guanying statues, ancient art exhibition, international friendship gift show, Mingzhou marriage hall, bronze Gallery, Ning style furniture, school painting and calligraphy gallery. Visitors can hit the bell, drums and so on.

The most attractive collection in Baoguo Temple is placed in the most conspicuous marriage hall Ningbo Sedan carved characters of more than 300, 2.9 meters high and 11 layers.

In the International Friendship Treasures Museum, you can see some rare treasures which are the symbols of the friendship between Chinese people and people around the world. Besides, those treasures reflect the ethnic characteristics, cultural traditions and unique artistic styles of other countries. All of these help you expand your horizons.

In the Bronze Gallery, bronze vessels and bronze statues casted in Tongzhi (1862-1875) are displayed. The bells seem in the same sizes but different thickness so that the sound is different when they are knocked. The Buddha and the Bodhisattva with different sizes and shapes represent the style of each period and characteristics.