Baoan Temple | 大龍峒保安宮

Baoan Temple 保安宮 is a beautiful temple located in the historic Dalondong 大龍峒 area of Taipei. It's also right beside Taipei Confucius Temple 臺北孔廟. In 2003, the temple was recognized for its cultural and historic significance by the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

The temple itself has been renovated and improved a number of times since it was first built in the 19th century. It was built by family members who immigrated from Xiamen, Fujian in the early 19th century. It was built as the family wanted the temple to protect members of their clan.

Once you enter, first, you'll see a beautiful Chinese style garden. Keep walking further and you'll see a traditional Chinese style building which wasn't open when I went to visit.

Pass through the gate and you'll see the main traditional temple with 4 sides. It has roughly 200 years of history! The entire temple was created in Zhangzhou 漳州 architectural style.

Interestingly, the temple even has its own library behind it. Never seen such a thing before. There were also posters introducing the various gods in the temple and their purpose. 

The temple holds numerous festivities such as the temple deity's pilgrimage 保安宮遶境 which is part of the Baoan Temple Cultural Festival 保生文化祭 which takes place every year from April to June. 

Another stand out event is the Fire Lion event 放火獅 in which a paper tiger is filled with firecrackers and is then lit to scare aware demons and ward off bad luck. The firecrackers and fireworks are a spectacular sight to behold! Everyone should attend this event at least once in their lifetime.

It's beautiful to visit and I would highly recommend visit both Baoan Temple and Confucius Temple 台北孔廟 and making it a day trip. There's also tons of food to enjoy in the area.

Take the Taipei MRT to Yuanshan MRT Station 圓山捷運站 and walk for 10-15 minutes to get to your destination.

Feeling adventurous? You can even walk from Dalondong to the famous Dadaocheng 大稻埕 area and explore the history there as well.

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