The temple I knew from drawings

I am already in the mountains for a one-day stay in Nikkō, but this morning, before I left Kyoto, I visited the Kiyomizu-dera temple. It is located in the southeastern part of the city, on the slope of Mount Otowa and is commonly known for its terraces based on tall wooden structures. As in many other cases, here too when I say "temple", I mean the entire vast complex consisting of many buildings.

I have seen many photos of this place, but to my surprise, when I climbed up to the main pavilion, I saw buildings from... Andrzej Wajda's drawings. The main building, quickly sketched with an emphasis on the terrace, the pagoda colored with a red marker. As many times during this trip, I looked live at places that I recognize very well, but this time the original in my head was a drawing. Andrzej Wajda visited the temple in November 1987, the same timer he received the Kyoto Prize and the way to the news Japanese museum in Poland just started. He made a set of sketches of various places in Kyoto, Amon them Kiyomizu-dera and the Gold Pavilion. If you want to see what this sketch looks like, take a look at its card in the Małopolska Virtual Museums catalog: https://muzea.malopolska.pl/en/objects-list/1230

And here I leave some of my photographic impressions from today's visit. Enjoy watching :)

Kiyomizu-dera, widok na główny pawilon, w oddali Kioto / Kiyomizu-dera, main hall with Kyoto view in the background

Kiyomizu-dera w Kioto, widok na główny pawilon i budynki przy wejściu / Kiyomizu-dera, main hall and buildings around the entrance

Kiyomizu-dera, wnętrze głównego pawilonu / Kiyomizu-dera, inside the main hall

Kiyomizu-dera, pagoda Koyasunoto bezpiecznych narodzin / Kiyomizu-dera, Koyasunoto or safe child birth tower