Porcelain Tower facts for kids
The Porcelain Tower was a giant porcelain-covered pagoda (Chinese tower) in Nanjing, China. It was destroyed, but a copy has been built beside the Qinhuai River.
The first tower was planned by the Yongle Emperor of the Ming family of rulers in the early 1400s. It was built under his grandson the Xuande Emperor as part of his work on the Great Bao'en Temple between 1428 and 1431. It was 30 meters (97 feet) high and had 9 floors. The top of the tower had a golden pineapple. This first porcelain tower was destroyed by the Taipings in 1856.
After Deng Xiaoping's Opening Up Policy made China richer, a successful businessman named Wang Jianlin gave Nanjing 1,000,000,000 RMB in 2010 to rebuild the Porcelain Tower. The copy and the park around it opened in December 2015.
Images for kids
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Artist impression of the Porcelain Tower before its destruction, based on the model displayed in the Nanjing Museum.
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Early European illustration of the Porcelain Tower, from An embassy from the East-India Company (1665) by Johan Nieuhof
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The Porcelain Pagoda, as illustrated in Fischer von Erlach's A Plan of Civil and Historical Architecture (1721)
See also
In Spanish: Torre de porcelana para niños
