Zhangye Grand Buddha Temple was first built in the first year in Yong'an Era of Emperor Chong of Western Hsia, 900 years from now.

　　The name of the Grand Buddha Temple has been changed for several times, for example, "Jiaye Rulai Temple", "Baojue Temple", "Hongren Temple", etc.

　　China's largest indoor reclining Buddha - the Nirvan of Sakyamuni Buddha lies in this temple. The length of the body of the Buddha is 34.5 meters, the shoulder 7.5 meters, ears 4 meters and feet 5.2 meters. One man can lie on the middle finger of the Buddha, while eight persons can sit shoulder by shoulder on the Buddha's ear. Now it is easy to imagine how huge the sculpture is.

　　Beside the two houses stand 18 arches. The frescos on the walls are descriptions of stories in "Journey to the West" and "Classic of Mountains and Seas". There are more than six thousand Buddha Sutra granted by Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty in the Depositary of Buddhist texts. These sutras are well preserved.

　　The Grand Buddha Temple is said to be the birth place of Hu Bilie, emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, as well as the place where Bieji Mother of the Emperor. In the late South Song Dynasty, Gongzong Emperor Zhaoxian had once became a monk and stayed in this temple to take refuge. The Grand Buddha Temple is very large in scale. In the 16th century, it was able to accommodate 5 to 6 thousand of people to worship here.