the forest of steles, tablet forest

the forest of steles, tablet forest

Forest of Steles, the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units (No.1 stone carvings), national first-class Museum and national AAAAA tourist attraction

It is one of the 18 special tourism landscapes in China. It is the earliest collection of ancient Chinese steles and the most famous collection of Han culture and art treasure house. It is located at No. 15, Sanxue Street, Beilin District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province.

The source of the forest of Steles can be traced back to Shitai Xiaojing and Kaicheng Shijing, which were established in the imperial palace of wubenfang in Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty. The official founder was Lu Dazhong (from Lantian, Shaanxi Province), a famous official of the Northern Song Dynasty. It was built in 1087, the second year of Yuanyou in the Northern Song Dynasty. After generations of collection, the scale gradually expanded. At present, there are more than 11000 cultural relics in the collection, including 134 of 19 kinds (groups) of Chinese treasure level cultural relics and 535 of first-class cultural relics. Four of the famous "six horses of Zhaoling" are hidden in the forest of steles.

The forest of Steles in Xi'an is not only the concentration of ancient Chinese cultural books and stone inscriptions, but also the gathering place of famous calligraphy treasures, which has great historical and artistic value

. On March 4, 1961, the forest of Steles was listed as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council.

Evolution of construction

The forest of Steles is named for its cluster of steles.

The source of Xi'an stele forest can be traced back to Shitai Xiaojing and Kaicheng Shijing, which were set up in the imperial capital Chang'an Chengwu Benfang Guozijian in Tang Dynasty. In the first year of emperor Tianyou of Tang Dynasty (904), Chang'an garrison in Hanjian was reduced to Chang'an City, and a part of the stone scriptures in Guozijian of wubenfang were moved to wenxuanwang temple near Shangshu province of Tang Dynasty (today's Xi'an society Road). From the third year of Kaiping to the fourth year of Qianhua (909-914), the garrison of Chang'an accepted the suggestion of Yin Yuyu, the official of the curtain, to move the rest of the stone scriptures to the west corner of Shangshu province of Tang Dynasty.

In the second year of Jingyou (1035), fan Yong established jingzhaofu school near the west corner of tangshangshu province; in the third year of Yuanfeng (1080), LV Dafang moved part of the Confucian temple and Fu school to the present site of Xi'an stele forest; in the second year of Yuanyou (1087), LV Dazhong, vice envoy of Shaanxi transportation, saw that the stone scriptures preserved in the west corner of tangshangshu province were "mixed with folk houses, which were in the depression", so he removed the stone scriptures and other Tang Song steles In the second year of Chongning (1103), Yu CE moved Fuxue to "the southeast corner of Fucheng", which is the present site of Xi'an stele forest. So far, the Fu school, the Confucian temple and the forest of Steles are in the same place, which is the location of the forest of Steles in Xi'an.

In the fifth year of Jin Zhenglong (1160), yinyelulung, the governor of Hezhong Prefecture, and Zhou Weifu, the vice envoy of Shaanxi east road transportation, repaired the forest of steles.

In the 14th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1285), Luo Tianxiang, the head of jingzhaofu school, and Meng Wenchang, the professor of jingzhaofu, asked Liu Bin, the town of Baqiao, to restore the fallen stone. In 1365, the Confucian temple, Fu Xue and stele forest were rebuilt.

In 1555, a great earthquake occurred in Guanzhong. Most of the steles in the forest of Steles were toppled and broken. In the 16th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1588), the forest of Steles was renovated, the damaged stone scriptures were copied and supplemented, and the nine scriptures were engraved. Zhao Gu of the Ming Dynasty had the name of "forest of Steles" in the preface of the inscription on graphite, which is the earliest record of Xi'an Forest of steles.

In 1664, Jia Hanfu, governor of Shaanxi Province, and Xu Jiye presided over the inscription of Mencius. In the 59th year of Kangxi (1720), Xu Rong, the magistrate of Xi'an, Zhang Zhong, a professor of Fuxue, and Yao Wensi were instructed to repair the forest of steles. In 1772, Bi Yuan, the governor of Shaanxi Province, renovated the forest of Steles, re planned and rebuilt the buildings of the forest of Steles, sorted out the hidden stones, and sent special personnel to manage and restrict the rubbing of Steles, which was the most comprehensive and important renovation of the forest of Steles in the Qing Dynasty.

From the 26th year to the 27th year of the Republic of China (1937-1938), the government of the Republic of China carried out large-scale renovation of the forest of steles. Shao Lizi, Zhang Ji, Huang Wenbi and others served as members of the supervision committee. Liang Sicheng gave specific guidance to the project in terms of architectural design and arrangement of steles. The whole architectural form and layout has been in use until now. During the renovation, 387 epitaphs of the Western Jin, Northern Dynasties and Sui and Tang Dynasties (Yuanyang Qizhi Zhai stone) donated by Yu Youren were displayed in a special room. These epitaphs greatly enriched the collection system of the forest of Steles, and were Yu Youren's important contribution to the forest of Steles in Xi'an and Shaanxi cultural industry.

In 1938, the stele forest management committee was established.

In 1944, Shaanxi Provincial History Museum was established on the basis of Xi'an stele forest.

In 1948, 38 pieces of Steles, such as the remnant stele of emperor Wudu of Han Dynasty and the ritual stele of Yanqin of Tang Dynasty, were removed and preserved.

In 1950, Shaanxi Provincial History Museum was renamed northwest historical relics exhibition hall.

On September 15, 1951, the northwest military and political Commission issued the "decision on implementing the decree on the protection of cultural relics and historic sites and preparing for the establishment of the northwest history museum and the Northwest Revolutionary Cultural Relics Exhibition Hall". The decision points out that "the northwest is the birthplace of ancient Chinese culture, and an important hub for cultural exchanges and communication with other ethnic groups and Western cultures since the Han and Tang Dynasties. It has a large number of cultural relics and historical sites. Some of the peasant uprisings in the past dynasties originated in the northwest, some gathered or passed through the northwest, and the red army went northward to resist Japan and traveled all over most of the areas of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai. In particular, the new democratic revolution once took the Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia border areas as its foothold and starting point. The historical sites spread most widely and the cultural relics left behind are also the most. They must be properly protected. " According to the decision, a demonstrative Historical Museum and a revolutionary cultural relic exhibition hall should be established first. Accordingly, the northwest ministry of culture decided to expand the "Northwest historical relic exhibition hall" in Xi'an to "Northwest Historical Museum" (stele forest museum).

In 1952, "Northwest Museum of historical relics" was changed into "Northwest Museum of history".

In 1955, the northwest history museum was renamed Shaanxi Provincial Museum.

In 1961, the State Council announced "Xi'an stele forest" as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units (No.1 stone carvings).

In January 1993, "Shaanxi Provincial Museum" was officially renamed "Xi'an stele forest museum".

On October 17, 2018, the Ministry of culture and tourism announced nine national 5A scenic spots, including Beilin scenic spot.

architectural composition

On the basis of the ancient forest of Steles, the forest of Steles is expanded by using the ancient buildings of Confucius Temple in Xi'an. It consists of Confucius Temple, stele forest and stone carving art room.

Zhaobi, Paifang, panchi, Lingxing gate, Huabiao, halberd gate, Beiting, Erwei and other Ming and Qing buildings have been preserved up to now, and follow the inherent architectural pattern of Confucius Temple, forming a simple and elegant courtyard building complex with green trees.

The exhibition rooms in the forest of Steles are arranged symmetrically from south to north with the central gate of Lingxing gate as the main axis. The first half of the pavilion is a temporary special exhibition room, and the north of the pavilion with a plaque of "forest of Steles" in the center of the axis is the forest of Steles exhibition room, and the west is the stone carving art room, forming a "one axis, two wings" exhibition pattern.

Main buildings

Exhibition

The forest of Steles exhibition consists of forest of Steles, stone carving art and other cultural relics exhibition, with a total of 12 exhibition rooms, including 7 stele rooms, 8 stele corridors, 8 stele pavilions, plus stone carving art rooms and 4 cultural relics exhibition rooms, covering an area of 4900 square meters.

Collection of stele forest

Calligraphy tablet

The greatest attraction of the forest of Steles lies in the fact that it contains many masterpieces handed down by outstanding calligraphers. For example, the "caoquan stele" carved in 185, the second year of Zhongping in the Eastern Han Dynasty, is characterized by round and delicate strokes, elegant and graceful body.

Among the famous steles preserved in the forest of Steles, the Tang stele is the most prominent. Tang Dynasty is a prosperous period of Chinese calligraphy art, during which there are many famous schools, including Zhen, Cao, Li and Zhuan. It inherits the lingering charm of the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, and is the first of the Five Dynasties, song and Yuan Dynasties. It is a glorious chapter in the long history of Chinese calligraphy for thousands of years. It has a vanguard page in the history of Chinese traditional culture, and has a profound impact on the later development of Chinese calligraphy and even East and Southeast Asia.

In the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court attached great importance to calligraphy, and the Imperial Academy had a Bachelor of calligraphy, who regarded calligraphy as one of the ways to enter the official career. The central government's "Sinology" is divided into six subjects, one of which is calligraphy. It is an institution specialized in teaching calligraphy, which is a continuation of the establishment of the Han Dynasty's selection of scholars by calligraphy and the Jin Dynasty's doctor of calligraphy. Hongwenguan also taught calligraphy, which was improved by officials of five or more grades. It was taught by the most famous calligraphy masters at that time, such as Ouyang Xun and Yu Shinan. This is enough to show that the imperial court attaches great importance to calligraphy and calligraphy education.

There are more than one thousand calligraphers in Tang dynasty recorded in historical records, most of them are officials in the capital or officials who have lived in Chang'an for a long time. From the general context of calligraphy evolution, the calligraphy of Tang Dynasty can be divided into three periods: early Tang Dynasty, middle Tang Dynasty and late Tang Dynasty.