Tianning Temple Pagoda

Located outside Guang'anmenwai in Beijing, built from 1119 to 1120 in the Tianzuo Emperor in Liao Dynasty, it is one of the famous ancient pagodas in Beijing.

Being 57.8 meters tall, it was a solid octagonal thirteen-eaves pagoda. It was erected on a huge platform. The bottom of the pagoda was in the form of a huge Sumeru pedestal, decorated with carved arches. The first floor has an octagonal column base, and the pedestal was divided into six shrines by short columns; it was carved as lion heads, lotus, thickly muscled and strong powerful lords, Bodhisattva, treasures etc. Above are thirteen levels of eaves, very close together, with no doors or windows.

As Buddhist architecture in Liao Dynasty, Tianning Temple Pagoda is the most ancient above-ground building preserved in Beijing. The whole structure and partial techniques showed the architectural style of brick tower with thick eaves of Liao Dynasty. The eaves diminish in size as they progress upward, giving the pagoda a shape reminiscent of that of a scroll. It was the important evidence to research the location of Nanjing (now known as Beijing) in Liao Dynasty.