Post by CuriousJM on Jun 30, 2021 7:39:17 GMT
Located atop two very closely spaced mountain spires of Mount Fanjing (or Fanjingshan) are an amazing set of twin Buddhist temples. The two temples are separated by a narrow deep gorge and are connected to each other by a stone arch bridge about 2 meters wide with a span of 5 meters. The pair of spires are called New Golden Summit, or Red Clouds Golden Summit and are about 100 metres (330 ft.) from the base. The temples dedicated to Buddha and Maitreya were built about 500 years ago during the Ming dynasty and have been considered a sacred site.
The summit is 2,336 meters (7,664 feet) above sea level and is accessible with difficulty through a narrow stone steps. For a healthy person, it takes about four hours to climb the nearly 9,000 steps to the temples, though some rest stops food shops are located along the way. It is a hard to imagine how these two temples were built and the difficulty the builders/labourers must have faced in making a path to the top and carrying the building material to this high and precarious rock formation.
The original temples decayed with passage of time and the present temples were rebuilt using sturdier materials in order to resist the strong winds and overall harsh environment. The design of rebuilt temples was retained to match the original.
Image from Google Maps is by JHOEL Bacon Cholan
Image from Google Maps is by Bambang Priyo Cahyono
Image from Google Maps is by Traveler Always
Image from Google Maps is by Bambang Priyo Cahyono
Image from Google Maps is by Raymond Ng
Twin temples and interconnecting bridge as seen in satellite imagery.
Image Source: Google Maps
View location in Google Maps (Location courtesy of krenek )
Sources of information with some great pictures:
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