The Iron Pagoda (Chinese: 鐵塔) of Youguo Temple (佑國寺), Kaifeng City, Henan province, is a Buddhist Chinese pagoda built in 1049 during the Song Dynasty (960–1279) of China. The pagoda is so-named not because it is made of iron, but because its colour resembles that of iron. It is a brick pagoda tower built on the location of a previous wooden pagoda that had been burnt down by lightning fire in 1044. Along with the Liuhe, Lingxiao, Liaodi, Pizhi, and Beisi pagodas, it is seen as a masterpiece of the Song Dynasty architecture.
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Famous quotes containing the words iron and/or pagoda:
“The greatest, or rather the most prominent, part of this city was constructed with the design to offer the deadest resistance to leaden and iron missiles that might be cast against it. But it is a remarkable meteorological and psychological fact, that it is rarely known to rain lead with much violence, except on places so constructed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“One is sick at heart of this pagoda worship. It is like the beating of gongs in a Hindoo subterranean temple.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)