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Ornamental Pagoda at Tuoli in Fangshan County of Beijing
The pagoda, built during the Liao Dynasty, is not far from the famous Kongshui Cave's small hill. Octagonal in shape, it is a single-storey pavilion-style structure, thirty meters tall, made entirely of brick. Its Sumeru pedestal has carved brackets and balustrades. On the headpiece and sides of the pagoda's four arched doors, one on every other side, are relief carvings of Buddha, bodhisattvas and celestial guardians. The other four sides have windows carved out of bricks. Two levels of brackets are attached to the pagoda's body to support the eaves, on which there is another level of brackets and a terrace to join the main body of the pagoda with the superstructure, which looks like a huge bouquet and is almost half the size of the pagoda. The superstructure's seven levels of niches contain ornamental sculptures of lions, elephants and other animals. The lowest level of niches is in the shape of two-storeyed miniature pagodas and the other niches are like single-storeyed miniature pagodas. The whole structure is crowned by a steeple that is a miniature octagonal, pavilion-style pagoda. The precious bead on top is now missing.

This ornamental pagoda is one of the oldest of its kind in China. Judging from the inscriptions "the sixth year of Xianyong," which was 1070, and "the seventh year of Shouchang,' which was 1101, it was built in 1070 at the latest.

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