This article first surveys the rise and development of neidaochang (palace chapel) in the pre-Tang periods as a religious and political institution, while its main body is devoted to reconstructing the development and multiple functions of the Buddhist palace chapels throughout the Great Tang, including the interregnum of Great Zhou (690–705). Tang palace chapels could act as translation offices; locales for state-sponsored Buddhist rituals; a central office for the national monastic leadership; a shrine for the reputed Buddha’s finger-bone that was regularly stored underneath a pagoda at a monastery in the vicinity of Chang’an, but which was frequently brought to the Tang court for worship; and somewhat unexpectedly, a theatre for some performances that, although religious in theme, were primarily performed in order to entertain the emperors, their entourage and court-officials.