Sunday in Lugang
or Lukang, sure, not to be too simple :-0. This fishermen willage, near Changhua City, grew to pitoresque town, and thanks to its temples became one of touristic attractions. Tourism is still developing here as an industry.
With the friend we attacked it in 40 cels heat and full tropical sweat, ufff. That is also the reason we went into literally every temple, and even a museum, to find shadow and air-conditioned space.
About Lugang it is possible to find lots of materials in the Internet, you can start from http://www.lukang.gov.tw/index-english.htm .
We started our sightseeing with Mai-Zou (=Incense, as the smoke of burning incense has never stopped inside) Temple,
or (as everything here has so many names) Tianhou (=Skies) Temple, which is the oldest and most known temple of the Goddess Matsu. I must say that The Lady, also called The Holy Mother from the Maizou Skies, is indeed impressive figure, with an air of calm serenity. Real, authentical Goddess of the Sea - Lugang was fishermen village.
People are praying and burning incences,
or burning 'false money'-yes, LOTS of such money is burnt here!
The bell:
Courtyard behind the main temple is also interesting:
Usual lively style of such temples, pressed into the narrow streets
About Matsu and Lugang you can find quite a lot in Internet.
We moved on, to find some air-conditioned space, and it was the 'Lukang Folk Arts Museum'. This building was the residence of a wealthy local landholder named Ku Hsien-jung. It was donated as a n exhibition place for a large collection of artifacts. The owner was rich merchant who was colaborating with Japanese duting the occupation, helping their advance in China. The building which hosts the museum, his residence, is itself interesting view in this city:
Inner courtyard is in shadow, and some rikshas found safe haven there:
The garden-with mandatory flag
In front of the building are these funny 'guys':
After some 2 hours the heat slowly calmed down (means closer to 30 then 40 cels) and we continued our wandering around. Interior of one old temple was in renovation, but the building itself is an essence of The Temple:
Here is one smaller after the renovation:
This one is magnificent-also after the renovation (after the earthquake in 1999, which was big catastrophy for most of Taiwan):
Inside is carwed wood...in gold, even the renovated baroque church does not reach this level of shine:
The person who takes care about this temple was very nice guy, he took his time and explained us lots of details inside and told us the story about the recent renovation (people from USA ands Canada are coming there to pray). Also, he informed us that the guards inside are 2 of 3 original such statues in the world, with the original, few ten kg's heawy crown:
Not only the temples are interesting in Lugang: Narrow Lane
and such places
just wait for tourists. City government already protected the area, so that the owners can not change the street much, in some 20 yrs this will all be full of small shops.
New buildings around, as usual, show variety of ideas for the tops:
Old entrance to one of the lanes (the only one which remained):
Nice details also were these pumps:
Street of Lugang, in the market ("everything for 10 NT dollars"):
With the friend we attacked it in 40 cels heat and full tropical sweat, ufff. That is also the reason we went into literally every temple, and even a museum, to find shadow and air-conditioned space.
About Lugang it is possible to find lots of materials in the Internet, you can start from http://www.lukang.gov.tw/index-english.htm .
We started our sightseeing with Mai-Zou (=Incense, as the smoke of burning incense has never stopped inside) Temple,
or (as everything here has so many names) Tianhou (=Skies) Temple, which is the oldest and most known temple of the Goddess Matsu. I must say that The Lady, also called The Holy Mother from the Maizou Skies, is indeed impressive figure, with an air of calm serenity. Real, authentical Goddess of the Sea - Lugang was fishermen village.
People are praying and burning incences,
or burning 'false money'-yes, LOTS of such money is burnt here!
The bell:
Courtyard behind the main temple is also interesting:
Usual lively style of such temples, pressed into the narrow streets
About Matsu and Lugang you can find quite a lot in Internet.
We moved on, to find some air-conditioned space, and it was the 'Lukang Folk Arts Museum'. This building was the residence of a wealthy local landholder named Ku Hsien-jung. It was donated as a n exhibition place for a large collection of artifacts. The owner was rich merchant who was colaborating with Japanese duting the occupation, helping their advance in China. The building which hosts the museum, his residence, is itself interesting view in this city:
Inner courtyard is in shadow, and some rikshas found safe haven there:
The garden-with mandatory flag
In front of the building are these funny 'guys':
After some 2 hours the heat slowly calmed down (means closer to 30 then 40 cels) and we continued our wandering around. Interior of one old temple was in renovation, but the building itself is an essence of The Temple:
Here is one smaller after the renovation:
This one is magnificent-also after the renovation (after the earthquake in 1999, which was big catastrophy for most of Taiwan):
Inside is carwed wood...in gold, even the renovated baroque church does not reach this level of shine:
The person who takes care about this temple was very nice guy, he took his time and explained us lots of details inside and told us the story about the recent renovation (people from USA ands Canada are coming there to pray). Also, he informed us that the guards inside are 2 of 3 original such statues in the world, with the original, few ten kg's heawy crown:
Not only the temples are interesting in Lugang: Narrow Lane
and such places
just wait for tourists. City government already protected the area, so that the owners can not change the street much, in some 20 yrs this will all be full of small shops.
New buildings around, as usual, show variety of ideas for the tops:
Old entrance to one of the lanes (the only one which remained):
Nice details also were these pumps:
Street of Lugang, in the market ("everything for 10 NT dollars"):
posted by mikidkolan at 12:47 PM
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