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Pagoda is the architectural "music" of Buddhism

Reverent admiration, pleasing and amazing imagination, arises at contemplation and visiting of religious constructions, quite often encountered in China and Japan, India and Vietnam, Cambodia and Korea, Thailand and other countries preaching Buddhism.

Miraculous properties

Pagoda is a multi-tiered temple tower (obelisk, pavilion) with numerous bright ornaments and cornices. Originally it performed the function of a memorial, preserving numerous relics - the remains of Buddhas and the ashes of monks. The erection of the earliest pagodas is attributed to the beginning of our era.

Having appeared in China, they spread widely throughout Southeast Asia and the Far East. According to ancient Chinese legends, the pagodas were intended to heal people from disease, to comprehend the truth in the process of meditation, and also to gain the opportunity to become invisible to enemies. However, too many bad human actions led to the fact that these structures began to "hide" their miraculous power.

Mysterious Treasures

The meaning of the word "pagoda" in the literal translation from the Portuguese language (pagoda) and Sanskrit ("bhagavat") is the "tower of treasures". Monastic constructions for the most part retained their original purpose, but access for travelers to existing monasteries is limited. Park buildings perform a rather symbolic role, attracting a lot of tourists with a unique interior decoration and the possibility of visiting the surroundings from the height of any tier. But in them one can not see ritual ceremonies and truly sacred objects.

The brilliant splendor of the sacred buildings, perfectly combined with noble calm, recalls, and often is a palace complex. The Imperial Pagoda is a building stylized with special pomp and grandeur, covered with yellow tiles, the color of which symbolizes the supreme power.

Architectural refinements

Chinese builders erected structures on the original technology based on the wooden frame structure "dougun", in translation meaning "bucket and beam." When building such houses, not a single iron nail was used. Having placed the pillars in a certain order and fastened them with crossbeams, the Chinese installed a frame, which was subsequently covered with a roof made of heavy tiles. But the most interesting: to facilitate pressure on the pillars, the Chinese built truncated pyramids of wooden bars, the wide bases of which rested on the upper overlap, and the tops - on the pillar. As a result, all the load falls on these brusochki, differing in size and shape and called "dow" - "bucket", respectively, "gun" - "girder".

Thus, the pagoda is an amazing structure in which the walls carry no load. They perform the functions of partitions and allow you to install windows and doors in any number.

Intricate features

The earliest Chinese pagodas are built in the form of a square, and later buildings have already become six-, eight- and twelve-cornered, some - round. You can find wooden and stone buildings, but often used bricks, iron and copper. The number of levels in the ancient Chinese pagodas is usually odd, the most common are buildings with 5-13 levels. Fantasy architects erected elegant buildings that miraculously fit into the surrounding natural space and form a unique architectural ensemble. Traditionally, such buildings were built in mountainous terrain, away from the noisy central regions of China.

Pagoda in Shanxi Province, palace buildings

Of particular interest is the exceptionality of the 9-level pagoda (its height is 70 meters) in Shanxi province, built about a millennium ago. This is the oldest wooden building in the world, preserved to this day. And the uniqueness of the anti-seismic design has saved it from numerous destructive earthquakes.

Chinese pagodas in the style of palace buildings emphasize the greatness of the emperor. Graceful, curved roofs, decorated with figures of birds and animals, serve to drain rainwater away from the base of the building. This allows you to keep wooden walls from moisture, makes these structures more durable.

Japanese pagoda - Buddha music

Creating an atmosphere of spirituality, it is customary in the Japanese garden to build Buddhist temples on hills, natural or artificial. Traditionally, with the arrangement of the garden, first the gates are installed, and then the Japanese pagoda, which is the central compositional object.

The height of the building is not limited to anything other than ... stone lanterns, which should be 1.5-2 times lower than the pagoda. In the country of the rising sun, they can be quite small (up to 1 meter), located in a miniature garden. And this means that in the zone of visibility there are no stone lanterns at all. According to the classical canons, the pagoda is a structure consisting of separate stones and forms a square at the base. Its vertical section is a trapezoid with curved sides. The most interesting is that the stones in the Japanese pagoda are not fixed to each other, and the construction is kept at the expense of their own weight. Therefore, when it is erected, careful calculation and accuracy are very important.

Against the background of magnificent landscapes in a pacified and spiritual atmosphere, multilevel pagodas reign, differing in shapes, heights and bright colors. They invariably attract attention and excite the imagination of a person.

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