Jinci Temple
Ancient Temple Complex Outside Taiyuan With Song Dynasty Halls And Painted Attendant Figures · Taiyuan, Shanxi
An ancient temple complex in a wooded valley southwest of Taiyuan, and one of the most important collections of early architecture and sculpture in China. Jinci grew up around springs sacred to the Jin state and its founding prince, and over two millennia it accumulated nearly a hundred buildings, of which the oldest are extraordinary. The Hall of the Holy Mother, built in 1023, is the finest surviving Song-dynasty timber hall in the country: its eaves sweep out on brackets, wooden dragons coil around the front columns, and inside stand forty-three painted clay attendants made in the same century, each a distinct woman with her own face, posture and expression, and among the most admired sculptures in Chinese art. In front of it the Fish Pond Flying Beam is a cross-shaped Song bridge over a spring-fed pool, and nearby stand the Zhou cypress, said to be three thousand years old and leaning at an alarming angle, and the Never-Ageing Spring. Around these cluster later halls, opera stages, pavilions and gardens, with the museum hours extended from 2026.
Jinci Museum, Jinyuan District, Taiyuan, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
Daily; from May 1, 2026 about 8:30-18:00 with last tickets 17:30, and about 9:00-17:00 from November to March (check).