Pingtung Tianhou Temple

A Mazu temple in east-central Pingtung City, also known as the Nanzaishujiao Mazu Temple (楠仔樹腳媽祖廟) after the old name of the surrounding neighbourhood. The temple traces its origins to a Mazu idol reputedly brought from Hangzhou in the 1650s and originally enshrined at an old city gate on the site of present-day Pingtung Park. The idol passed through a succession of host temples before its own hall was demolished by the Japanese around 1913 for road widening, leaving the statue in a side altar at Cifeng Temple for several decades. Local benefactors funded the present temple in 1948 and expanded it into a three-storey complex in 1977; the original 17th century statue still sits at the rear of the main altar on the second floor.