Porcelain Tower facts for kids
The Porcelain Tower was a super tall pagoda (a type of tower in China) in Nanjing, China. It was covered in beautiful porcelain, which is a fancy type of ceramic. Sadly, the original tower was destroyed a long time ago. But don't worry, a new copy has been built right next to the Qinhuai River!
Contents
Building the Original Porcelain Tower
The idea for the first Porcelain Tower came from the Yongle Emperor. He was a powerful ruler from the Ming family of rulers in China. He planned it in the early 1400s.
His grandson, the Xuande Emperor, helped build the tower. It was part of a bigger project for the Great Bao'en Temple. The tower was built between 1428 and 1431.
The original tower was really tall, about 30 meters (97 feet) high. That's like a 10-story building! It had 9 floors. The very top of the tower even had a shiny golden decoration that looked like a pineapple.
The Tower's Destruction
Sadly, the first Porcelain Tower was destroyed in 1856. This happened during a big war called the Taiping Rebellion. Soldiers from the Taiping army were responsible for its destruction.
Rebuilding the Wonder
After China became much richer, a successful businessman named Wang Jianlin decided to help. In 2010, he gave Nanjing a huge amount of money, 1,000,000,000 RMB. This money was used to rebuild the famous Porcelain Tower.
The new copy of the tower and the park around it opened in December 2015. Now, people can visit and see this amazing structure once again!
Images for kids
-
Reconstructed Porcelain Tower at night
-
Artist's idea of the Porcelain Tower before it was destroyed. This is based on a model in the Nanjing Museum.
-
An early drawing of the Porcelain Tower from Europe. It was made in 1665 by Johan Nieuhof.
-
The Porcelain Pagoda, as drawn by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach in 1721.
See also
In Spanish: Torre de porcelana para niños
