{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "path": "/places/foding-palace",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-04T19:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.atlasobscura.com",
  "tags": [
    "buddha",
    "sculptures",
    "buddhism"
  ],
  "textContent": "Beneath the domed summit of Niushoushan Cultural Park lies one of China’s most unexpected sacred spaces: an enormous multi-level Buddhist palace hidden completely underground. Built to echo the mountain’s Tang-dynasty religious heritage, the complex was designed to protect important relics—believed to include a fragment of the Buddha’s skull—once kept on this very peak.\n\nDescend through spiraling stone corridors into a surreal, cathedral-like space of illuminated lotus domes, golden halls, and one of the largest underground reclining Buddhas in Asia. Concealed below ground to evoke a hidden mandala-world, the palace blends relic veneration with futuristic architecture, creating an unexpected sacred labyrinth beneath an otherwise tranquil cultural park.",
  "title": "Foding Palace in Nanjing, China"
}