Gardens of Suzhou - West Garden

(Local Name: Xiyuan) The West Garden (Xiyuan) lies to the west of the Garden of Mr Liu, with which it was originally connected. In the 16th C the park was the private property of a high official of the imperial court. Following his death his son converted the site into a Buddhist monastery. In 1860 the garden was destroyed in the war, although it was re-laid only a few years later.

Among the numerous buildings, the Luohan Hall (Luohan Tang) is particularly impressive, it houses over 500 gilded statues of Buddhist saints, and a statue of the thousand-armed goddess of mercy carved from the stump of a camphor tree.