Xumi Pagoda facts for kids
The Xumi Pagoda, also called the Sumeru Pagoda or Summer Pagoda, is a very old Chinese tower. It is located in a place called Zhengding, in the Hebei province of China. This special tower was built a long, long time ago in the year 636 AD. That was during the time of the Tang dynasty, a powerful empire in ancient China.
The Xumi Pagoda is made from stone and brick and stands about 48 meters (157 feet) tall. It has been kept in very good condition since it was first built. It used to be part of a larger Buddhist monastery called Kaiyuan Monastery. Most of the monastery is gone now, but the pagoda still stands tall.
What Makes the Pagoda Special?
The Xumi Pagoda has nine levels, each with a roof-like edge called an "eave." At the very top, it has a pointy part called a spire. The bottom part of the pagoda is a stone platform with beautiful stone carvings. These carvings show amazing artwork from ancient times.
Inside the Pagoda
If you look inside the pagoda, you'll find it's empty. There are no stairs to climb up to the higher levels. The way its eaves are built, with levels getting smaller as they go up, is similar to other famous pagodas from the Tang dynasty, like the Small Wild Goose Pagoda.
The Mythical Beast
Near the main entrance of the pagoda, there is a huge stone statue. It's a "bixi", which is a mythical creature from Chinese stories. A bixi looks like a dragon with a tortoise shell. For a long time, part of this statue was missing. But in the year 2000, during some digging nearby, the missing piece was found!
