Travel in China
A Buddhist mountain reborn in golden splendour - the Usnisa Palace buried inside the peak with a relic of the Buddha.
Niushoushan (Cow Head Mountain) is a Buddhist cultural tourism zone built around the 2015 interment of a parietal-bone relic of the Buddha in the Usnisa Palace. The palace is buried inside the hollowed-out mountain, its dome visible from outside as a lotus-shaped golden crown on the peak.
The Usnisa Palace is the most extraordinary Buddhist space in China: escalators and lifts descend six below-ground levels through corridors of light, lotus pools and a lying Buddha crowned with jewels, before reaching the relic chamber itself. The interior combines traditional Buddhist iconography with contemporary architecture and engineering - some visitors describe it as 'a Buddhist Vatican'.
The mountain also holds the more traditional Fo Ding Temple at its base, a Tang-style pagoda, and hiking trails through forested slopes. The entire site was developed at a cost of 4 billion RMB and represents the largest recent investment in Buddhist architecture in China.
Highlights
The Usnisa Palace
A nine-storey underground palace of golden domes, lotus pools and a relic of the Buddha.
The Lotus Dome
The golden lotus-shaped dome visible on the mountain's peak.
The Fo Ding Temple
A traditional temple complex at the mountain's base.
The Escalator Descent
Nine storeys of escalators through light and water.
The Lying Buddha
A golden reclining Buddha adorned with jewels in the lower chamber.
The Tang-Style Pagoda
A nine-storey pagoda on the mountain's ridge.
Photo Gallery
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