The Songyue Temple Pagoda is located at the south foot of Songshan Mountain, 7 kilometers northwest to Dengfeng city in Henan Province.

It is the oldest extant large pagoda in China. Its structure and style are consummate among ancient pagodas.

The brick pagoda is the earliest multi-eave pagoda to be found thus far. The pagoda's total height is about 39.8 meters. The diameter of the ground floor is 10.6 meters, including the walls, which are each 2.5 meters thick.

The first story of the pagoda is very high, which is characteristic of all multi-eave pagodas. This story is divided into upper and lower parts by balconies, and there are doors on the eastern, southern, western and northern sides, linking the two parts. The top part of each door is an arch with an ornamental relish above it. The other eight sides of the lower part of the first story are plain, without ornament. The upper part, however, is the most decorated part of the entire pagoda.

According to many books and records since the Han and Wei dynasties, most pagodas were wooden multi-storeyed structures, which were later replaced by brick and stone pagodas of the same style. The Songyue Temple Pagoda, as an early example of the transition, is invaluable. Both the main body and pedestal of the pagoda have twelve sides, making it the only such pagoda in the country.

Not only its artistic structure is at a very high level, but also its construction techniques are quite accurate. Therefore, the Songyue Temple Pagoda has an important position in the history of Chinese ancient architecture.

The pagoda was built during the Zhengguang reign (520-524) in the Northern Wei Dynasty with a history of over 1,400 years.

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