广饶关帝庙大殿, Temple complex in Guangrao County, China.
The Guangrao Guandi Temple main hall is the only surviving building of a temple founded in 1128, now part of the Sun Wu Shrine of the Dongying History Museum and called Wusheng Hall. Facing south, it measures 10.38 m high, 12.63 m wide and 10.70 m deep, with a single-eave hip roof, green glazed tiles and a 0.73 m platform. Its timber frame uses six-rafter bays and five-puzuo bracket sets with double projecting ang, following the Song building manual Yingzao Fashi.
The hall was built in 1128, in the second year of the Jianyan era of the Southern Song, and local gazetteers record repairs in the Jin Cheng'an and Taihe years and a Ming reconstruction in 1486. A bronze statue of Guan Yu was cast in 1498, and the Three Righteousness Hall was added behind the hall in 1541. By the Daoguang reign the complex had grown into the largest Guandi temple in northern Shandong; it was listed as a national heritage site in 1996.
The temple was originally of unknown name and only became known as the Guandi Temple in the Ming and Qing dynasties; a bronze statue of Guan Yu was cast in 1498. Since 1991 the site has housed the Sun Wu Shrine and the Dongying History Museum, and in 2005 the Guan Yu statue in the hall was replaced by a sculpture of Sun Wu.
The hall stands inside the Sun Wu Shrine complex of the Dongying History Museum in Guangrao County, so entry follows the museum grounds. The raised platform in front of the hall is 0.73 m high and reached by steps. The hall faces south; its interior is a single open room with exposed beams overhead.
The hall's interior uses a cheshang lumingzao ceiling, leaving the four-rafter beams exposed, while the central bay of the outer eaves has a coffered ceiling and the side bays flat panels. Its bracket sets follow the sixth-grade timber module of the Song building manual Yingzao Fashi.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,536 contributors worldwide.