The Longhua Tower is located in front of the Longhua Temple. It is a standard Song Dynasty tower and is reputed as the ‘crown of pagodas in Shencheng’. The tower has seven levels and eight sides, with a height of 40.6 meters. It is a pavilion-style brick-wood structure. The tower body is a brick-built hollow cylinder with a square interior. There are wooden stairs inside. On each floor outside the tower, there are flat seats, balustrades, and upturned eaves. The tower eaves extend far and wide. Under the tower railings and flat seats, there are brackets layer by layer, making the entire pagoda’s shape exquisite and beautiful. According to legend, the Longhua Tower was first built during the period of Wu Chiuwu (238-250 AD) in the Three Kingdoms. It was built by Sun Quan of Wu and granted the name ‘Longhua’. It contains the five-colored Buddhist relics requested by the monks from Kangju in the Western Regions. The existing tower’s architectural structure and shape were built in the third year of Taiping Xingguo (977 AD) in the Song Dynasty. The brick body of the tower is an original from the Northern Song Dynasty. In 2000, a 5,000-square-meter square in front of the tower was newly built. The corridor bridge, pavilions, and towers around the tower are extremely beautiful. On May 25, 2006, with the approval of the State Council, the Longhua Tower was listed as a key national cultural relic protection unit. Opening hours: open all year round and all day long.
