Xuan Kong Temple (Temple in the Sky) is a famous Buddhist structure located at the foot of Mount Heng, Shanxi Province, China. Located on a precarious cliff, about 75m above the ground, the temple is built on fragile wooden stilts and leans against the mountain hollows.
The temple is more than 1,400 years old and was rebuilt and restored during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.
The temple has a total area of about 150 square meters and has 40 shrines arranged in balance to ensure the safety of the entire structure.
Despite its precarious structure, inside Huyen Khong Tu Pagoda there are still more than 80 bronze and cast iron statues of quite heavy mass, belonging to different dynasties. After thousands of years, the pagoda still has the strength to support these structures.
Every year, Xuan Kong Temple welcomes thousands of tourists from all over China and abroad. Not only do they come to pray for peace, but they also come to admire a unique structure and to witness with their own eyes an ancient creation.
Connecting the shrines is a corridor built along the mountainside and supported only by piles and simple wooden floors.
Chinese historians say the reason the ancients built this precarious temple was to protect against the fierce floods that often swept through Shanxi province; and also to avoid snow and heat.
The beautiful landscape of Huyen Khong Tu has entered Chinese poetry.
