Click here to enter photo gallery >>

- Location: Haidian District, Beijing

The Five Pagoda Temple (真觉寺金刚宝座) is situated about 200 meters to the northwest of Beijing Zoo. It is also known as the Temple of True Awakening (Zhenjuesi) and the Temple of Great Righteous Awakening (Dazhengjuesi).

The structure of the Five Pagodas is known in Buddhist terminology as the "diamond throne pagoda" style, wherein five small pagodas stand on a large square foundation known as the "throne." The entire temple complex, including numerous wooden buildings, was repaired and renovated in 1761, but in the late Qing Dynasty it was looted and burned to the ground, first by the Anglo-French Allied Armies in 1860, and again by the Eight-Power Allied Force in 1900. Today, the only extant relic is the monumental diamond throne pagoda.

The square throne foundation is 17 meters high. The five pagodas rise from their rectangular bases on top of this foundation, one in each of the four corners and the fifth in the center. The central pagoda is slightly higher than the others, with 13 eaves, two more than those in the corners. The entire structure is made of white marble. Today, after more than 500 years of oxidation, the flecks of iron in the stone have given the entire structure a pale orange hue.

Travel Tips:

- Admission: 20 yuan;

- Hours: 9:00 a.m. - 4 p.m.

- Tel: 86-10-62173543

- How to get there: take bus No. 320, 332, 717, 941,601, 612, 27 and Trolley-bus No. 102, 103, 105 and 111;