Wanfo Hall (Ten-Thousand Buddhas Hall)
Wanfo Hall is the centerpiece of all buildings and the essence of the Zhenguo Temple. Built in 963 (the seventh year of the Tianhui reign of the Northern Han Kingdom), it measures three bays in width and depth and is nearly square in plan, with a total width of 11.58 meters and a depth of 11.78 m. It has a single-eaved hip-and-gable roof. The hall does not have a pupaifang (plate supporting the bracket sets and resting on the lintel); instead, the principal bearing block in the bracket set (ludou) sits directly on the column top. The architraves do not protrude beyond the corner columns, which is a common characteristic of early architecture from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907-960). The column-top bracket sets are seven-tiered with double transversal bracket arms and double downward slanting cantilevers, while the intermediate bracket sets are five-tiered. The bracket sets rise to more than half the height of the columns beneath them.
The hall is a six-rafter-deep structure without interior columns. On the altar inside remain 11 painted sculptures: The central figure is Shakyamuni seated in the lotus position, flanked by disciples Mahakasyapa and Ananda, and further out by four attendant bodhisattvas. In front of the altar stand two Vajrapani (guardian deities) and before the Buddha’s seat, on lotus pedestals, are two attendants in semi-reclining poses. These constitute the only well-preserved temple painted sculptures from the Five Dynasties in China.