Tsú-phóo-tuânn, Chinese temple in Keelung, Taiwan.
Tsú-phóo-tuânn is a two-storey octagonal altar building on the summit of Shitoushan in Zhongzheng Park, Keelung. Its reinforced-concrete and steel frame rises about 17 metres, and its ground floor houses the Jilong Zhongyuan Culture Museum, which presents the festival's rites, offerings and processions.
The first permanent Main Altar was completed on 31 August 1929 in Gaosha Park, funded by the eleven surname groups and designed by Japanese colonial engineer Kaoru Ide. Allied bombing damaged it in 1945, and it was rebuilt in 1956 with an added floor. Traffic congestion led to its relocation to the summit of Shitou Mountain in Zhongzheng Park, where the second-generation altar was finished in 1974.
The name 主普壇 refers to the altar of the rotating "main Pu" duty: since the Qing era, Keelung's Ghost Festival has been run by the eleven surname groups taking turns as hosts. On the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, the altar hosts the purification rite, in which a Taoist priest cleanses the platform before officials and the炉主 release lanterns. The ground floor houses the Jilong Zhongyuan Culture Museum, renamed in 2022, with displays on the festival's rites, offerings and folk performances.
The altar stands on the summit of Shitou Mountain in Zhongzheng Park, moved there in 1971 because the old site on the city streets caused traffic jams during the Ghost Festival. The ground floor houses the Jilong Zhongyuan Culture Museum, so the building can be visited outside the festival period as well. Expect exposed, windy conditions on the hilltop.
The altar moved to its present hilltop site in Zhongzheng Park only in 1971, when the old downtown building was causing traffic jams during the Ghost Festival; the second-generation structure was finished in 1974. The original 1929 octagonal hall, designed by Japanese colonial engineer Kaoru Ide, was demolished in 1993 and replaced by the Keelung Broadcasting Station building.
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