Located in the northeastern corner of Iron Pagoda Park， the Iron Pagoda (Tie Ta) was known as the Kaibao Temple Pagoda originally, and it is a Buddhist Chinese pagoda built in 1049 during the Song dynasty (960-1279) of China by the Song emperor for keeping the relics of Sakyamuni.
As the main hue is reddish brown, the pagoda looks like iron from afar and has thus been called as Iron Pagoda for hundreds of years.The 13-story octagon pagoda is 55.63 meters high and built with brown glazed bricks, like an iron pagoda in the distance, so its name. So, it is not made of iron, but of red, brown, blue and green glazed bricks.
It becomes famous at home and abroad for its excellent architecture art and magnificent shape and is praised as the first pagoda under the heaven. This pagoda is the tallest, largest oldest and well-preserved glazed brick pagoda in the country. Since its construction, it has experienced war, floods and earthquakes several times but it still stands firmly. It is a brick pagoda tower built on the spot of a previous wooden one that had been burnt down by lightning fire in 1044. Along with the Liuhe, Liaodi, Lingxiao, Beisi and Pizhi pagodas, it is seen as a masterpiece of Song dynasty architecture.