官祀天后宮為禦災捍患諸神祠官祀類型，經過清代歷代皇帝不斷地敕封封號，各地常見之民祀媽祖廟，一躍而成中國沿海各省標準的官祀建築類型。本文試著從清代官祀天后建築體系的探討出發，分就京師綺春園惠濟祠、浙江海寧海神廟、湄洲天后宮、泉州天后宮等天后宮的建築格局與空間構成予以討論，進而對照出臺灣地區官祀天后宮建築格局與空間所屬之地方特色，包括創建年代早於地方設治以前即已設立、廟宇位置以沿海運輸要道區位為主、廟中祀神與其他民間廟宇無異，並且經常有其他官祀神祇附祀其內等。

Mazu 媽祖, the goddess of sea, not only symbolically protects fishermen and sailors, but also officially serves as a prototype of worship for praying for safety from disaster and disease during the Qing Dynasty. From a local sea goddess, Mazu had ultimately become the official goddess worshipped in coastal provinces after numerous praises by the emperors. This essay will begin with an exploration of the systematic architecture of Tian Hou ( 天后, heavenly empress) temples; this will be followed by a discussion of some examples, including the Hui-ji temple 惠濟祠in the imperial garden of Beijing , the Sea-god temple 海神廟in Haining county of Zhejiang province and the Tian Hou Temples in Meizhou( 湄洲) and Quanzhou 泉州. By contrasting their architectural space scheme and spatial structure with the examples from Taiwan, this paper shows that some local spatial characteristics can be traced from the official Tian Hou temple. The following conclusions are revealed: (1) The established date of the Tian Hou temple was before the constitution of the local government; (2) The site of the Tian Hou temple was often set near main routes of sea transportation; (3) The type and relationships between the Mazu icons and those of other subordinated gods were similar to those in other local temples; (4)Some other official gods are also being co-worshiped in the Tian Hou temple.