The monastery was first built during the Qing dynasty, but has been heavily rebuilt and renovated since and consists now of the West Monastery from 1669[1] and the East Monastery from 1940 and is the largest and oldest one in the town. The temple covers an area of 10,600 m² (114,000 ft²). The temple also houses the Tianjin Buddhist Institute, which exhibits quite many ancient statues. The Dabei Buddhist Monastery is made up of two parts: old monastery and new monastery.