The Small Wild Goose Pagoda
1 min readThe Pagoda was constructed in the period 707 to 709，though it ac-quired its present name only after its large neighbour to the southeast be-came known as the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.Its function was also to house Buddhist sutras.Although with a height of 43 metres it is shorter than the Big Wild Goose Pagoda，it has more tiers.In 1555 a big earthquake dam-aged the original 15-storey pagoda in the Ming Dynasty:A crack ran from the top to the base and the upper two tiers toppled off.
Though the crack was revamped，the two top storeys were not replaced during the renova-ion.The present 13-tier pagoda is a tribute to some Tang architects，show-ing their skil in building a pagoda，which has witnessed dozens of other earthquakes during the last 200 years and is still standing.It was complete-ly restored in 1965 and at the same time lightninig arrestor and lighting equip-ment were installed on the pagoda.The Small Wild Goose Pagoda is a square brick construction，with each side measuring 11.38 metres.Its styleis fine and delicate with a rhythmic series of projecting eaves.Above the north and south arched doorways on the first storey are the Tang engrav-ings of iy designs and Buddhist figures.Ming inscriptions describe the earthquakes，which the pagoda survived.
