The Ancient Bell Museum of Great Bell Temple (Dà zhōng sì 大钟寺) is situated in the Northern Sanhuan Road West, Haidian District, Beijing. It was originally the Temple of Awakening which was built in the 11th year of the reign of Emperor Yongzheng (yōngzhèng 雍正) in the Qing Dynasty(1733). Beijing Municipal Government approved the establishment of the Ancient Bell Museum of Great Bell Temple in November 1984. It is the only museum specialized in tourism, collection, study and exhibition in China.

Standing from south to north were the principal buildings like the Main Gate, the Deva-King Hall, the Hall of Mahavira, the Hall of Avalokitesvara, the Tower of Scriputures and the Big Bell Tower. It takes an area of 30,000 square meters. The national treasure Yongle Bell is housed in the most featured Big Bell Tower. It is 675 centimeters in height, 330 centimeters in rim diameter and 46,500 kilograms in weight. The bell was covered entirely with Buddhist sutras and incantations in Han and Sanskrit languages, totaling more than 230,000 characters.

The basic exhibitions included "Historical Evolution of the Temple of Awakening", "Bell Culture (including Bells in Early Ages, Chime Bells, Dating Back to the Warring States Period, Buddhist and Taoist Bells, Exquisite Bells of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Yongle Bell and Bell Casting)", "Bells from Foreign countries" and "the Nine-pavillion Bell Garden". The museum utilizes its large amount of real evidences and the materials to present the development of Chinese ancient bells.

The Yongle Bell is struck at the beginning of each year. It has become popular for people to strike the bell to give best wishes to each other when the coming year unfolds a new page to them.

Contact
Address: A31 Northern Sanhuan Road West, Haidian District, Beijing
Tel: 62550819

Map

Opening Time
8:30--16:30

Bus Line
The Ancient Bell Museum of Great Bell Temple is open all through the year. Take No.730,718,967,727,836,367,422,425,361,601,101,201,300 buses to the stop of Dazhongsi(the Great Bell Temple)

Ticket Price
RMB 10
student: RMB 4

Tips

• Striking the Bell at the beginning of each year is meaningful.

tags:   Travel in Yunnan     Travel in Shanghai