Tianhou Palace

The Tianhou Palace (天津天后宫), popularly called Niangniang Gong, is a Mazu temple on the Ancient Culture Street in Nankai District. It was begun in 1326, in the first year of the Tai Ding era of the Yuan, rebuilt in 1403 under the Ming Yongle era and renamed Tianhou Palace in 1684, the twenty-third year of Kangxi. Together with the Meizhou Mazu Temple in Putian, Fujian and the Beigang Chaotian Temple in Yunlin, Taiwan, it is counted as one of the world's three great Mazu temples. The compound occupies 5,280 square metres of ground with 1,341 square metres of floor space and faces east, with two banner poles 25 and 26 metres high standing before its gate.