Baitai Monastery, Śākyamuni Hall  白臺寺釋迦殿

Building Information

Originally thought to have been built in the Song Taiping xingguo reign period (977-984), the Shijiadian or Sakyamuni Hall (釋迦殿) of Baitai Monastery was rebuilt during the Jin Mingchang reign period (1190-1194). The brick podium was constructed to accommodate a sloping terrain, with the front 0.75 meters high and the back 0.3 meters. Approximately square, the front facade is three bays across and roughly 31'3" and side facade is six rafters deep and measures 31'4". Crowned by a single eaves hip-gable roof, all of the roof ridges, including the main ridge, the pendant ridges, and the corner ridges, are faced with carved brick. The eaves are supported by columns with four-layer corbelled bracket sets (puzuo 鋪作) and a single cantilever (ang 昂 ). The central bay (mingjian 明間) has a single intercolumnar corbelled bracket set (bujian puzuo 補間鋪作 ). The roof frame is formed by a four-rafter beam facing a posterior rufu 乳栿 tie-beam with three columns in cross-section. Pillar bases (zhuchu 柱礎) use and an "upturned basin" style. Under the front eaves, there is a bi-valve door hung in the central bay. Lattice windows are in the secondary bays of the building. In the hall, there is a Buddhist altar that holds 12 Buddhist sculptures, which are arranged as follows: Sakyamuni in the middle, flanked by Ananda 阿難陀, Mahakasyapa 摩訶迦葉, and bodhisattvas on either side. Under the two gable walls, there are six extant arhat sculptures. Behind the interior screen wall, there is a sculpture of Skanda (Weituo 韋馱) that has been modified by later generations and hence lost its original characteristics.1