Chinese Pagoda Kew Gardens
RMID:Image ID:BKDB01
Image details
Contributor:
Maurice Crooks / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
BKDB01File size:
50.2 MB (2.7 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
3421 x 5132 px | 29 x 43.5 cm | 11.4 x 17.1 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
17 April 2010Location:
Kew Gardens London England UKMore information:
The ten-storey octagonal structure is 163 ft (nearly 50 m) high and was, at that time, the tallest reconstruction of a Chinese building in Europe. Purists, however, argue that pagodas should always have an odd number of floors. Kew's Pagoda tapers, with each successive floor from the first to the topmost being 1 ft (30 cm) less in diameter and height than the preceding one. The original building was very colourful; the roofs being covered with varnished iron plates, with a dragon on each corner. There were 80 dragons in all, each carved from wood and gilded with real gold. The iron plates were later replaced by slate and the dragons vanished.