Parc de la Pagode de fer

Iron Pagoda Park is one of Kaifeng's defining landmarks, centred on the striking pagoda that has become the visual symbol of the city. The pagoda, properly a glazed-tile brick tower built in the Northern Song dynasty, stands in a landscaped park that combines historic architecture with gardens and walking paths. For international visitors, it is one of the most rewarding sites in Kaifeng, since the structure itself is an authentic medieval survival in a city that lost most of its ancient buildings to Yellow River flooding.

The pagoda's popular name, the "Iron Pagoda", is something of a misnomer. It is not made of iron but of brick faced with glazed tiles in a deep brownish maroon that, from a distance, reads as the colour of cast metal. The choice of material and the precise, segment-by-segment construction produced a tower of remarkable structural integrity, which is why the building has survived when so little else in Kaifeng has. The form is an octagonal, multi-eaved pagoda of the classic Chinese type, with each storey marked by an elaborate bracketed cornice.

The park surrounding the pagoda is laid out for walking and contemplation rather than for the dense programming of Kaifeng's theme parks. Pathways circle the base of the tower, gardens frame successive views, and small pavilions provide places to sit and study the building's silhouette. The pagoda can be viewed externally in detail, and the surface, on close inspection, reveals the individually moulded glazed tiles, many of them carrying Buddhist imagery, that give the structure its distinctive character.

Iron Pagoda Park is best visited as part of a morning or afternoon circuit through Kaifeng's northern historic sites, and pairs well with the nearby Longting and Millennium City Park. Allow around ninety minutes for a relaxed visit, longer for visitors with an interest in Chinese Buddhist architecture or in the technical achievement of glazed-tile construction. The pagoda is one of the strongest single arguments for including Kaifeng on a Henan itinerary.