The Linggu Temple and Pagoda was first built in 515 CE, during the Liang Dynasty (502 - 557 CE). The Linggu Pagoda was built in 1929. The temple is Buddhist.

Nanjing dates back to the beginning of the Warring States Period (403??21 BCE). Between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE, Nanjing was the capital of the Southern dynasties at a time when non-Chinese were in command in northern China. After various natural disasters and a peasant rebellion, the new Sui dynasty moved the imperial capital to Xi???n (589 CE) and destroyed Nanjing, along with almost all of its cultural and historical relics.

Nanjing regained national importance at the beginning of the Ming dynasty, when its first emperor, Hongwu (Zhu Yuanzhang), set up the seat of government here in the Southern Capital until it was transferred to Beijing in 1421.