About this place

The Linggu Temple area contains the Linggu Temple, Linggu Pagoda, The Beamless Hall and the tomb of Tan Yankai.

Linggu Pagoda

The 60 meter high, 9 storey, Linggu Pagoda was completed in 1933.  The pagoda serves as a memorial for the Nationalist soldiers that died in the 1926-1928 revolution.  A spiral staircase  around the central pillar leads all the way to the top.  Looking out from the pagoda, you can see the Purple Mountain forest and Nanjing’s skyscrapers rising in the distance.

Linggu Temple

The Linggu Temple was built in memory of the monk Xuanzang. Xuanzang traveled to India to study Buddhism, and later he returned to China to translate a wealth of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese.  Walk into the temple and take a right to find the building that displays Xuanzang’s story.  The wooden carvings on the wall illustrate his beginnings as a monk in China and his trip to India while the statue in the middle depicts Xuanzang translating scriptures.  If you are lucky, you may come across a friendly monk that can explain the whole story in great detail.

Beamless Hall
This vaulted structure was built entirely with bricks, and has no beams, hence its name: The Beamless Hall.  This structure would be regarded as an extraordinary piece of architecture if it was built today. Considering it was built in 1381, it is that much more impressive.

The hall originally served as a place of worship, but now it serves as a place of remembrance.  Within the hall 110 stone tablets include the names of the 33224 deceased Nationalist officers and soldiers.

Tomb of Tan Yankai

Tan Yankai was chairman of the Nationalist Government.  Upon his death in 1930, this tomb was built in his honor.

 
How To Get There
 
Both the 游1 (you 1) and 游2 (you 2) buses stop near the entrance to the Linggu Temple area.  These buses end daily service at 5:00pm and 5:45 pm respectively.
 
It is also possible to take a cab to Linggu Temple, however, legitimate cabs are not always readily available to take you back into the city.  There are usually people at the entrance that would love to charge much more than the normal rate to take you from the Linggu Temple into the city.
 
In the off chance you want to reach the Linggu Pagoda area from the top of the mountain see "Linggu Pagoda to The Mountain Peak" about 3/4 down the Purple Mountain article.