| Known
popularly as the Western Pagoda, the Chengtiansi Pagoda
is a 64.5-meter-high octagonal structure in the Chengtian
Temple in the southwest corner of Yinchuan. A vaulted
archway conducts directly into the pagoda, in which a
flight of wooden stairs provides access to the 11 wooden
floors. According to history books, after the death of
Zhao Yuanhao, the founding king of the Western Xia Kingdom,
his mother conscripted tens of thousands of solders in
1050 for the construction of the Chengtian Temple and
a pagoda of the same name as a token of her wish for the
longevity of Zhao Liang, the child king who had just been
enthroned. After both buildings were completed five or
six years later, she had what were believed to be the
bones of Sakyamuni contained in coffins made of gold and
silver and buried under the pagoda, thereby turning the
place into a famous Buddhist sanctuary of the Western
Xia Kingdom. Today, housed in the temple and the pagoda
is the Museum of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
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