Longshan Temple (艋舺龍山寺), also spelled Lungshan, is the temple to see if you only see one in Taipei. It is a working place of worship first: people come all day to pray to Guanyin, the goddess of mercy, and you will see offerings of flowers and fruit on the tables, people casting moon blocks to ask the gods a question, and smoke rising from the incense burners. Visitors are welcome to walk through quietly.
- Hours 06:00 to 22:00 daily; last admission 21:45
- Address No. 211, Guangzhou St., Wanhua District
- MRT Longshan Temple Station (Blue Line, BL10)
A short history
The temple's own history says settlers from Quanzhou in Fujian brought the incense of Anhai Longshan Temple across the strait, and that building here began in 1738 and finished in 1740. It has been rebuilt again and again since:
- 1815: an earthquake flattened everything except the altar, and the temple was rebuilt.
- 1919 to 1924: the biggest rebuild in its history, led by the master builder Wang Yi-shun (王益順), turned it into the palace-style temple of wood and stone you see now. Most of today's buildings, apart from the main hall, date from this period.
- 1945: an American air raid burned the main hall. The statue of Guanyin survived, blackened by smoke, which is still told as a miracle. The main hall was rebuilt between 1955 and 1959.
- 1985: listed as a national historic monument.
What to look for
- The front hall's bronze dragon columns: Taipei's tourism office calls them the only cast-bronze coiled dragon pillars in Taiwan.
- The main hall's spiral ceiling: a domed caisson of interlocking timber built without a single nail.
- The roofs: dragons, phoenixes and figures made of cut porcelain and coloured glass (剪黏) and koji pottery, some of the finest temple decoration in Taiwan.
- The rear hall and side wings: the rear hall has shrines to Mazu, the sea goddess, Wenchang, god of scholars, and Guan Gong; the Old Man Under the Moon (月老), who looks after love matches, has his altar in a side wing.
Since 2000 the temple no longer burns paper money, so it is less smoky than it once was.
Temple manners
Speak softly, keep out of the way of people praying, and don't point your camera into their faces. Dress is relaxed, but the people around you are there to worship, so treat it as you would any church or shrine.
Good to know: early morning is the calmest time. After dark the temple is lit up and busy, and it is a short walk from Huaxi Street and the other night markets around it.
Around the temple
Longshan Temple sits in Wanhua, one of Taipei's oldest neighborhoods, once the river port of Bangka (艋舺). Bangka Park is right in front, the herb shops of Xichang Street are a minute away, and Huaxi Street Night Market starts a block or two north.
→ Wanhua neighborhood guide · Taipei's temples · Night markets
Wondering what the red crescent blocks and the bundles of incense are for? Inside Tainan has a plain-English guide to temple culture that works just as well at Longshan.
Sources
History from the temple's own building history and chronology (Lungshan Temple). Hours, last admission, address, MRT and the details on the bronze dragon columns and ceiling from Taipei Travel. Checked October 2026.