Foguang Monastery, Great East Hall  佛光寺東大殿

Building Information

The Great East Hall, or Dongdadian 東大殿, sits in the east side of the monastery facing the west. Based on evidence from inscriptions preserved at the site, the hall is believed to have been built in 857 and is one of the most important structures in China. Until the discovery of Nanchansi in 1953, it was the oldest building extant in modern China, and it remains the grandest extant Tang building to this day. The Great East Hall is distinguished from other extant Tang structures through its grid ceiling and a hip (wudian 廡殿) roof, while others have hip-gable roofs with exposed roof frames. Another thing that distinguishes the East Hall from other Tang dynasty halls is that the East Hall is our earliest extant example of a building which could be described as using a palatial hall structure (diantang 殿堂). 1

The hall is a 7 x 4 bay timber-frame structure, eight pillars wide and five pillars deep, measuring 34 by 17.66 meters. The hall uses seven-puzuo bracket sets on the tops of the pillars to support the roof. The front, central bay is the widest, and the other six bays symmetrically decrease going toward the sides of the building. The five central front bays have doors, and the outer ones have slat, or straight lattice, windows (zhilingchuang 直欞窗). 1