Composition of Three Towers in Architecture of Buddhist Monasteries in China as a Reference to the Image of The Heavenly Palace

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the origins, evolution and semantic content of the composition of three connected towers in ohinese architecture. Having originated in the 3rd century BC as a decoration for the main gates of high- status architectural complexes, this composition found a new interpretation in Buddhist architecture. Over time, three towers placed in a row, connected to each other along the upper tier by passages or galleries, began to symbolize the Heavenly Palaces hovering in the Western Sky (Xitian), which in Buddhist mythology personified the place of the highest joy without suffering. Having become entrenched in the fine arts of the 6th-9th centuries, this image gradually turns into relief decor and from the 10th century begins to be embodied in a number of Buddhist buildings, subsequently becoming quite stable in the architecture of Buddhism. The conducted analysis allows us to better understand the reasons forthe formation ofcharacteristic volumetric- spatial solutions in Buddhist architecture, and to reveal their semantic content.