The Beamless Hall of the Kaiyuan Temple is located on Dongdajie Street inside the Panmen gate of Suzhou city. It was listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level by the State Council of China in 2013.
The Kaiyuan Temple, called Tongxuan Temple at the very beginning, was built by Sun Quan for his nursing mother, during Chiwu Period of Dong Wu in the Three King Period. The Beamless Hall is the only ancient building that survived in the Kaiyuan Temple.
The Beamless Hall, called sutra depositary at the beginning, was built in the forty-sixth year of the period of Emperor Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1618). Compared with other stone buildings, it wins through its exquisite constructions and details. There are exquisite brick carvings called Sumeru seats on the leaning columns of the bottom part, while lotus pendants, Queti, Huaban, architrave and brackets are in the up and down eaves. The flat seat of the floor has handrails and caissons; cresting with dragon and flowers images as well as standing figures of four heavenly kings are at the top of the cabinet, which are all fine and exquisite. The whole architecture looks splendid and solemn, reflecting the high level of building skills of Ming Dynasty with the reputation of “the top structure in south of Yangtze River”. It was rebuilt in the ninth year of Dao Guang, and the roof was repaired every several years after the year of 1957, 1961 and 1975.
