world reviewer
Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Ma
Built a year after Confucius’s death, in 478 BC, the Temple of Confucius was built in honour of the great sage and is the largest of several dedicated to him. It has nine beautiful, shady courtyards and the bright, symmetrical, pagoda-roofed temple lies in the centre. Despite the insistence at the time that Confucian temples should remind visitors of the lessons he gave and not encourage worship of the man himself, it is filled with wooden statues, paintings and clay models of the philosopher and sacrifices were made here in his name.
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“Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion in Qufu”
'The temple, cemetery and family mansion of Confucius, the great philosopher, politician and educator of the 6th–5th centuries B.C., are located at Qufu, in Shandong Province. Built to commemorate him in 478 B.C., the temple has been destroyed and recon… Read more...
Written by press. UNESCO
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The first Temple of Confucius
The first of the Confucius Temples was built in 478BC, one year after his death, in his home town, Qufu, Shandong Province. This was his three roomed house before being consecrated and dramatically expanded to it’s current 460 room form over the following 2,000 years. Sadly his house was pulled down in 611AD during one of these expansions, the final which took place in the Ming Dynasty shortly after the construction of the Forbidden City which is why the layout is quite similar, with many courtyards arranged off a central roadway.
The key central buildings have red walls and yellow tiled roofs, usually reserved for the imperial family, and the main hall is supported by 100,000 six metre high carved stone pillars.
The best part about this temple is that it is still run by his descendants so is one of the few Temples of Confucius which has images of the man - due to a lack of agreement about his appearance there are hardly any temples allowed to have statues or pictures.
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