Taoist Louguantai Temple

Louguantai - Taoist Monastery Platform Watchtower

The Louguantai Temple is one of the most revered places of Taoists. This ancient Taoist temple complex in Tayu village, located 70 km to the west to Xi'an, was built 2600 years ago. It is located on the same-name plateau of Chzhunnanshan mountains - Louguantai. There is Louguantai National Park and Wild Animal Breeding and Protection Centre.

Louguantai Taoism refers to the Longmen School (“Dragon Gate”). “Louguantai” is translated from the Chinese language as “Monastery of the watchtower platform”. In this case, it refers to the ancient frontier outpost, from where the Great Silk Road began.

Louguantai is located in the place where, as legend has it, Lao Tze was preaching Taoism. There he wrote the Tao Te Ching which contained 5,000 Chinese hieroglyphs on the basics of Taoism, later on he gave this treatise to Yin Xi, his disciple and border watchman.

The complex territory, including the buildings and gardens, is rather large, so sightseeing of the beautiful mountain surroundings may take more than a day. The complex was visited by Chinese antique poets and writers such as: Oh Yansyun, Wann Wei, Li Wai, Wai Juyi , Su Shi, who left a memorable inscriptions there.

Three kilometers to the west there is another attraction - the famous Daqin Pagoda, which housed an early Christian site in China.