Located on the sacred Niushou Mountain in Nanjing, Usnisa Palace is probably one of the most extravagant contemporary Buddhist buildings in terms of size and ostentation of luxury.

In 2008 in Nanjing, on the ruins of the Bao’en temple destroyed by the Japanese (but also by time!), archaeologists discovered an underground palace containing iron chests. Inside these, pieces of bones and cloths with the shape of pearls which could come from the cremation of Buddha Shakyamuni and other masters of Buddhism. They would have been preserved by a monk called Master Kenzhen in 1011 and would have remained intact since then!

This discovery is located on Niushou Mountain, one of the many sacred mountains in China because it is here that the Niutu sect of Chinese Zen Buddhism was created. This is why it was decided to transform this area into a huge park of 80,000 hectares and to rebuild the temple but also other religious buildings including the Usnisa Palace which now encloses the relics of the Buddha.

Opened to the public in 2015, the Usnisa Palace is amazing for its size, its height (or depth, depending on it), its architecture, its opulence and from a certain point of view, its kitsch. It is probably one of the most grandiose and extravagant contemporary religious buildings!

The exterior of the palace

Topped by two gigantic domes, the palace covers 135,000 square meters. It takes 15 minutes to walk around it!

The first dome, outside, partially covers the palace itself. This immense airy metal structure symbolizes protection and unlimited blessing by imitating the cloak of Buddha which envelops his body.

The other dome, the one that constitutes the roof of the palace, stands on a stylized lotus flower. Its structure symbolizes the bone fragments that have been found and are kept in this palace. But its oval shape also recalls the « bun » of Buddha which signifies his achievement in wisdom.

Let’s go inside the palace

After having put protective covers around our shoes, we can enter the palace. Even if we suspect from the outside that the size of the room will be big, we are nevertheless seized by the immensity of the place! High of the equivalent of 3 floors, the room shelters a marble Buddha of 10 meters length. Located in the middle of a fountain from which are projected water vapors, the statue turns on itself and a game of changing lights worthy of a sound and lights illuminates the huge room to imitate the rhythm of the day and night.

But the surprise is not over and the highlight of the show awaits us in the basement of the palace. 6 floors and tens of meters lower, we enter the corridor with 10 000 Buddhas. 10 000 is not a euphemism! Carved in stone, marble, jade, precious wood, cast in bronze or porcelain, embedded in carved walls, these statuties adorn the whole corridor which goes around another huge room, the one that houses the Buddha relics.

Entirely covered with gilding, the relics room is totally extravagant with luxury, colors, precious stones, marbles. In the middle and several meters high, the receptacle where the relics are locked up is enthroned. They cannot be seen and are only unveiled a few times a year during religious festivals.

There are countless other rooms along the way. More modest in size, they are no less opulent to the point that it is impossible to concentrate on the details carved on the floor, the walls, the doors and even the handles!

To get out we take the same escalators as to go down, they too of course covered with carved wood. And it is only once arrived in the open air after 2 hours of visit that we finally close our mouths, so much the amazement provoked by this ostentation was intense!

The Usnisa Palace has become one of the major tourist and religious attractions in China. And that is understandable! Even if this extravagance sometimes flirts with kitsch and goes against the precepts of sobriety and Buddhist wisdom, it offers us an unprecedented experience of immersion in the extraordinary.