To study the seismic performance of low-rise pavilion-type ancient timber structure， shaking table tests were conducted on a 1：6 scaled model of the Xi’an Bell Tower. The Kobe wave， Lanzhou wave and Wenchuan wave with the seismic intensity levels ranging from 7-degree frequently to 9-rarely were considered as input excitations. The dynamic characteristics， dynamic re sponses and energy consumption of the structure were identified. The test results indicate that， as the peak ground acceleration （PGA） increased， the natural frequency of the model structure decreased marginally， while the damping ratio increased significant ly. The stiffness was not uniformly distributed along the height of the structure， with the smallest stiffness found at the Dougong storey on the external gold cylinder， which also experienced the maximum inter-story drift. The acceleration amplification factors of the model were generally less than 1， exhibiting obvious seismic reduction effects. Compared with modern structures， the plastic strain energy of the ancient timber structure was relatively small， which helps reduce structural damage.