Discover Nanjing
Linggu Temple and the Beamless Hall
灵谷寺与无梁殿
Inside the Zhongshan scenic area, a monastery whose 1381 Beamless Hall is built entirely of brick vaulting with no timber at all, later made a memorial to Republican war dead. Quiet compared with the mausoleum up the road.
The story
What makes this place special
Linggu Temple was founded in 515 under the Liang, originally at the north-east foot of Purple Mountain; when the Hongwu Emperor wanted that site for his own tomb, he had the temple moved to its present position and named it. At its height it covered over 300,000 square metres. Much was destroyed in the mid-nineteenth-century wars and rebuilt under the Tongzhi Emperor. The Beamless Hall dates from 1381 and is the reason to come: 22 metres high and 53.8 metres wide, built entirely of brick vaulting with no timber beam and no nail anywhere in it, hence the name — which also puns on Amitābha, Wuliangshou, the Buddha it originally held. In 1928 it was converted into a memorial to the Nationalist soldiers killed in the Northern Expedition, with more than 30,000 names enshrined. The Linggu Pagoda, 60.5 metres and nine storeys, was built in 1930–32 for the same war dead, designed by the American architect Henry K. Murphy; it is not part of the temple. Relics of the monk Xuanzang are kept here, and the politicians Tan Yankai and Deng Yanda are buried in the grounds.
What you’ll discover
A quiet wooded park rather than a tight temple compound. The Beamless Hall is a single enormous brick vault, dim and cool, with the Nationalist memorial tablets and name panels around the walls — an unusual double layer of history, a Ming Buddhist hall used as a Republican war memorial, which is still how it reads. A long avenue of trees leads to the Linggu Pagoda, which you can climb for a view over Purple Mountain. The working temple with the Xuanzang relic hall is a short walk away, and there is a pine forest path that most visitors never take.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- The Beamless Hall is a structural curiosity worth understanding before you enter: a 1381 brick vault spanning over fifty metres with no timber in it at all. Look up at the vault, not at the tablets.
- This is the quietest of the three Purple Mountain sites. If the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum has been a crush, come here afterwards and the mountain becomes pleasant again.
- Climb the Linggu Pagoda. Nine storeys of internal stairs, and almost nobody does it, so the top is usually empty.
- The tree-lined avenue between the hall and the pagoda is the best autumn walk on the mountain and gets a fraction of the visitors of the Ming Xiaoling Sacred Way.
- Use the Purple Mountain scenic shuttle. Linggu is at the far end from the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum and walking between them in summer heat is a mistake people make once.
When to come
Late November for the trees; any weekday morning for quiet. Spring and autumn generally — the site is wooded and shaded, so it handles warm weather better than the mausoleum.
Getting around
Mostly reasonable. The park paths and the avenue are wide, paved and gently graded, and the Beamless Hall is entered at close to ground level with a low step, so the main set piece is achievable in a wheelchair. The Linggu Pagoda is stairs only, nine storeys, with no lift. Some temple halls have raised thresholds and steps. A bad knee can do everything except the pagoda, and distances between the parts of the site are long — use the shuttle.
Worth knowing before you go
In June the woods here fill with fireflies after dark - a local summer outing almost no foreign guide mentions.
Compare established providers
Check live tours and tickets
Search for Linggu Temple and the Beamless Hall in Nanjing. Prices, availability, payment and confirmation are handled by the booking provider.
China Travel Select does not take payment or create the reservation. Confirm the exact name, dates, inclusions and cancellation rules on the provider’s page.
Take a closer look
Maps, videos & more
Prices and hours change. These are the places to check on the day.
