Matsu Tianhou Temple
Main Deities
About
Of all the Mazu temples in the world, only this one has, a few steps in front of the shrine in the main hall, the 'spirit cave' where Mazu's body is said to lie. Matsu Tianhou Temple sits beside Matsu Harbor on Nangan, facing the sea. It is the most important center of faith in the Matsu Islands and is dedicated to Mazu (the Empress of Heaven). Legend says that when Mazu's father and brother failed to come back from a fishing trip, Lin Moniang threw herself into the sea to save her father and drowned. Her body drifted to the Matsu inlet on Nangan, and the villagers, moved by her devotion to her father, buried her there and built a temple. Even the name of the Matsu Islands comes from 'Mazu': by the 20th year of the Guangxu reign, a British naval chart was already marking this island as 'Matsu'. The 'Mazu Ascension Festival' on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month is the biggest religious celebration of the year in Matsu.
History
No one knows when Matsu Tianhou Temple was first built, but the story of this place goes back a long way. People were already living around the Matsu inlet on Nangan in the Song dynasty, and Song-era porcelain shards have been dug up here. The gazetteer 'Sanshan Zhi' called Nangan 'Shanggantang'; the name changed to Nangantang only in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The temple has been rebuilt many times. Recorded rebuilds include one supervised by Zhang Yizhou in the 32nd year of the Republic, and a restoration commemorated by a stele inscription in the 52nd year of the Republic. In 2002 (the 91st year of the Republic), the old temple was torn down and rebuilt as a palace-style temple modeled on the Meizhou Mazu ancestral temple, giving it the scale it has today.
Matsu Tianhou Temple
Nangan Township, Lienchiang County
Visitor Info
Address
No. 4-1, Matsu Village, Nangan Township, Lienchiang County
Region
Nangan Township, Lienchiang County
Plan Your Visit
- Hours
- Daily 6:30 AM – 8:30 PM
- When to Go
- The Mazu Ascension Festival on lunar 9/9 each year is the grandest religious celebration of the year in Matsu.
Checked on 2026-10-13 · Sources: Google Maps