The pagoda’s visual and architectural properties, which seem foreign in contrast to Chinese architectural tradition and vocabulary, thus beg further investigation. Furthermore, constructing in materials other than wood was not any easier in a region that rarely needed to deal with the heavier weight of a tall structure that pressed down from above and could cause the building to break laterally. Elevating viewers to a great height, however, was not one of the multilevel pagoda’s major functions. A higher vantage point is the usual justification for constructing tall buildings such as watchtowers. In an architectural tradition predominated by timber frames and characterized by horizontal sprawl, building upward was particularly challenging both technically and materially. ![]() Photo from Jiang Huaiying and Qiu Xuanchong, Dali Chongshengsi san ta (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1998), front cover Chongsheng Monastery, Dali, Yunnan, circa 9th century. Yet with its unique form, the sky-high, multilevel pagoda also raises pointed questions about architecture and religion.ġ Qianxun Pagoda and its two subsidiary pagodas. It asserts itself in the language of verticality that gloriously manifests Buddhism as a religion deeply entrenched in premodern China, reshaping the physical landscape and reconfiguring its sacred topography as an inseparable part of the building environment and tradition. 1) has been the most recognizable pagoda type in China’s cultural territory and throughout its building history. However, the freestanding, multilevel structure towering above the horizon (fig. From the beginning, the style and material of the Chinese adaptation varied it could be four-sided or polygonal and made of timber, brick, or masonry. Ultimately, we should see the multilevel pagoda as a structured mechanism, or a performing center in a vertical rise, that prompted the faithful to ascend and to circumambulate around the pagoda, from the periphery to the center, if only conceptually.ĭerived from the Indian stūpa, the Chinese pagoda inherited the stūpa’s original function as an architectural structure that enshrined holy relics, but transformed it into a taller and thinner version. Its levels, centrality, and indeed, height are architectural components that were key to its performativity, through which its religious significance was revealed and its ritual efficacy enacted. This essay argues that the height of the multilevel pagoda was necessarily performative-not so much because the pagoda served as a means of ascending to that height, but because it drew the attention of the faithful. This growing emphasis on verticality, in contrast to the usual horizontal sprawl of China’s building tradition, raises questions about what “height” meant in the history of Chinese architecture. ![]() An unprecedented number of multilevel pagodas were built in China from the tenth through the thirteenth century.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |