Dafo Temple, Zhangye

Built in 1098 during the Western Xia Dynasty, Zhangye Giant Buddha Temple, also known as Sleeping Buddha Temple, is a national key cultural relic and 4A scenic spot in central Zhangye City. Its core Giant Buddha Hall is a pure mortise-and-tenon Western Xia building without any iron nails, enshrining a 34.5-meter-long clay Nirvana Buddha statue, the largest indoor reclining Buddha in Asia. The temple preserves precious early Ming Journey to the West murals, complete ancient Buddhist scriptures, a thousand-year earthen pagoda and a vintage Shanxi Guild Hall, integrating Western Xia, Yuan, Ming and Qing architectural styles, recording the profound Buddhist and Silk Road civilization of ancient Ganzhou.