Glazed Archway at the Putuozongcheng Temple 普陀宗乘之庙
The Putuozongcheng Temple 普陀宗乘之庙 is one of the Eight Outer Temples 外八庙 surrounding the Mountain Resort 避暑山庄 in Chengde. They are also considered as part of the UNESCO world heritage site list on par with the Mountain Resort. The Putuozongcheng Temple is one of the more wall known of the Eight Outer Temples which is why I was paying it a visit. The temple is actually a lama temple which was built as a replica of the Potala Palace 布达拉宫 in Tibet 西藏. It was meant to make the visiting lama feel at home. The emperors of the Ming dynasty were ardent believers of Buddhism and thus have utmost respect for the Dalai Lama.
A Look at the Glazed Archway at the Putuozongcheng Temple 普陀宗乘之庙
During the time of Emperor Qianlong the Putuozongcheng Temple was built as the temporary residence of the Dalai Lama and since the emperor frequents the Mountain Resort, this makes it an ideal place to built it. Although it is not a hundred percent accurate, great care was taken to built something with a striking similarity to the original. They even built the Putuozongcheng Temple along a hillside similar to the original one. In fact, one of the best places to see the temple would be from one end of the Mountain Resort, which gives the user a commanding view of the temple complex. Unfortunately for me, I was not able to find this spot since the Mountain Resort grounds were too huge.
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