Xiantong Temple

Xiantong Temple stands in the centre of Taihuai Town, in Wutai County, and is the largest and oldest of the mountain's monasteries, with more than 400 buildings. It began in the Yongping period of the Eastern Han, in 68 AD, as the Dafu Lingjiu Temple, and was rebuilt under the Tang emperor Taizong as the Great Huayan Temple, which then took in the ground of today's Tayuan Temple and Pusading. Seven main halls stand on its central axis, from the Guanyin Hall to the Buddhist Texts Library. In 1982 the State Council listed it in the second group of national cultural protection units. It remains the head of the mountain's Chinese monasteries.