The Great Wild Goose Pagoda

The Great Wild Goose Pagoda, which is also called "Pagoda of Da Ci'en Temple", is located in Da Ci'en Temple. In the third year of Yonghui’s reign of the Tang Dynasty (625A.D.), Xuanzang presided over the construction of the Dayan Pagoda in order to keep Buddhist texts and Buddha statues brought from India through the Silk Road. At the beginning, the Pagoda had five layers, and was constructed into nine-layer structure then; then it was reconstructed for many times; finally, it was fixed as the Seven-layer structure we see today, which is 64.517 meters high, with the length of sides of the ground floor of 25.5 meters.

Great Wild Goose Pagoda, as an existing pavilion-style pagoda with the longest history and largest scale of Tang Dynasty, is a typical physical evidence of introduction of Buddhism and ancient Indian architectural form such as pagoda and integration of Buddhism and Chinese culture, and is a symbolic building that embodies the wisdom and the Han nationality people.

In 1961, Great Wild Goose Pagoda was listed in the first batch major historical and cultural site protected at the national level by the State Council. In 2014, as a relic in “Silk Road: Chang'an - Mount Tianshan Galley Road Network” of the application for World Heritage of China, Kazakhstan, and Kyrghyzstan, Great Wild Goose Pagoda was enrolled in the World Heritage List.

Geographic location: Da Ci'en Temple, Yanta District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province

Opening time: 08:00—17:30