After a five-month trek of just 1.2 kilometers, the 3,500-ton Ciyuan Temple is on solid footing again, an official in central China's Henan Province said on Thursday.

Movers said relocating the three, 1,500-year-old temple buildings was like "moving a plate of sand".

The Ciyuan Temple complex in Linzhou of Henan was built at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty (627-649) and renovated during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

It's the first time that an ancient temple in China has been lifted off its foundation and moved, intact, to another location.

The move was made necessary to make way for the Anyang-Linzhou Highway which winds between coal mines in the area. "The move was met with many unprecedented difficulties," said Du Qiming, director of the Henan Research Institute of Ancient Architecture Protection, which is in charge of the project.

Movers had to steer the brick-and-wood temple which is 9 meters tall around 13 turns and over undulating ground.

(Xinhua News Agency June 9, 2006)