This undated file photo shows a stone Buddhist head unearthed at an ancient Buddhist temple dating back to the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) in Pingcheng District, Datong, north China's Shanxi Province. [Xinhua]

TAIYUAN, March 12 (Xinhua) — A Buddhist temple dating back to the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) has been unraveled in Pingcheng District, Datong City of north China's Shanxi Province.

Believed to have been an official temple or a royal one, the ancient temple is located some 300 meters from the palace ruins of the Northern Wei Dynasty, with a pagoda as its center, said the provincial institute of archaeology.

The researchers found a square pit with pearls, coral jewellery and brass rings in the middle of the pagoda foundation. More than 200 well-preserved Buddhist statues were also unraveled inside the pagoda. Some of the statues were painted while some were gold foil-decorated.

The pagoda is believed to be painted with murals as its peeling wall remains suggest, said Li Shuyun, deputy head of the institute. "It is the most well-preserved pagoda foundation remains that Datong has ever discovered, providing important physical research materials for the study on architectural forms of Buddhist pagodas at that time," Li added. 

This undated file photo shows a stone Bodhisattva head unearthed at an ancient Buddhist temple dating back to the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) in Pingcheng District, Datong, north China's Shanxi Province. [Xinhua]

(Source: Xinhua)