Tianhou Palace 天后宫

Tianhou Palace was built in the third year of the Taiding era of the Yuan Dynasty (1326). It is a famous existing Taoist temple in Tianjin, mainly dedicated to worshipping Tianhou, a Taoist goddess. Located in the middle section of the Ancient Culture Street in Nankai District, Tianjin, it was also originally known as "Tianfei Palace", "Xiaozhigu Tianfei Palace", "West Temple" and "Niangniang Palace". Tianhou, also known as "Mazu", was actually a fisherman's daughter named Lin Mo from Putian County, Fujian Province during the Northern Song Dynasty. "Mazu" is the title for unmarried women in the Fujian dialect. Because she repeatedly rescued ships in distress at sea during her lifetime, she was revered as a sea goddess who sacrificed herself to save others and helped the weak and those in danger after her death.

After the Yuan Dynasty made Beijing its capital, Mazu came to the bank of the Haihe River along with the grain and goods transported by canal boats from the south to the north, and Tianjin welcomed the kind, dignified Mazu who had gone through many vicissitudes.

The worship of Mazu, as a cultural phenomenon, has lasted for thousands of years without declining because it originated from the people and was recognized by the imperial court. From Emperor Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty who conferred the title of Tianfei on Mazu to Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty who conferred the title of Tianhou on her for the last time, emperors of successive dynasties granted titles to Mazu more than 20 times.

There is a Zhangxian Pavilion on the north side outside the mountain gate of Tianhou Palace. Entering the mountain gate, there is an archway, which is a wooden structure with two pillars and one floor. Under the front brackets is a horizontal plaque with the four characters "Haimen Ci Fa" (Merciful Raft at the Sea Gate), and the north horizontal plaque is "Baigu Chaozong" (All Valleys Pay Homage to the Ancestor). On both sides are the renovated bell and drum towers. The front hall is a three-bay through hall, in which the statues of Wang Lingguan, and the tall and majestic Jia'e, Jia Shan, Qianliyan (Thousand-mile Eye) and Shunfeng'er (顺风耳，Wind-accompanying Ear) have been remolded. In front of the front hall stand two stone lions unearthed during the renovation project.

Behind the front hall, connected by a paved path, is the main hall on a high platform, also called the main hall, which is the main body of Tianhou Palace. The main hall is convex in plan, with a roll-up shed antechamber in the front, and the protruding part at the back is called the Phoenix Tail Hall. These parts together form the whole main hall. In the middle of the main hall, the statue of Tianhou is remolded in the shrine, with four maids standing on both sides. In front of them are offering tables and utensils. On both sides of the hall, a set of imperial carriages and harnesses are displayed. The platform of the main hall is surrounded by granite stone strips. The stone strip at the southeast corner of the platform still retains the inscription "the 23rd year of Daoguang".

Behind the main hall is the Sutra Collection Pavilion, a two-story brick and wood structure with five bays. In the Sutra Collection Pavilion, on the wall steles on the north and south mountain walls of the lower floor, you can see the "Inscription on the Reconstruction of the Rear Floor of Tianhou Palace", which is a record of the reconstruction in 1923. On both sides of the platform in front of the Sutra Collection Pavilion, there are also two tall stone lions, one unearthed during the construction in 1985 and the other a replica.

Behind the Sutra Collection Pavilion is Qisheng Hall, a small three-bay hall dedicated to Tianhou's parents. During the renovation in 1985, murals were found on the inner side of the south wall of the small hall, depicting the "Four Duty Gods" of Taoism. A total of 20 side halls were rebuilt on both sides of the main hall and the Sutra Collection Pavilion. Finally, a two-story, four-bay imperial scripture hall with an outer corridor was rebuilt at the northwest corner of Qisheng Hall.