Western Xia Mausoleum 3 (Tailing)

38.4350°N, 105.9872°E.

The Tailing Mausoleum (Mausoleum 3) of the Western Xia, in the Helan Mountains imperial cemetery, Ningxia, China — the tomb of Emperor Taizu (Li Yuanhao, r. 1038–1048), founding emperor of the Western Xia dynasty. Original base approximately 110 metres per side; original height around 25 metres — the largest of the nine Western Xia mausolea. The octagonal rammed-earth mound sits within a double enclosure of inner and outer walls, originally with corner watchtowers and a rear funerary palace. Li Yuanhao formally proclaimed the dynasty in 1038, defeated Song Chinese armies in three major battles between 1040 and 1042, and forced the Song to recognise his sovereignty by treaty. He was assassinated by his eldest son Ningling Ge in 1048 in a palace coup over a marriage dispute. The Tailing mausoleum was the first imperial-scale mausoleum constructed in the Western Xia funerary template — every subsequent Western Xia imperial tomb at the site copied its plan.

A pyramid for a founding emperor murdered by his own son, on the architectural template his successors would all be buried under.