The Forbidden City is one of the largest and best-preserved wooden structures in the world. Every stone and wood has witnessed nearly 600 years of court changes, leaving traces of time and precipitating thousands of years of history and culture.
This magnificent ancient building with a history of hundreds of years is a wooden frame as the main load-bearing system, which does not require nails, but adopts a concave and convex treatment of the joint, that is, the tenon and tenon structure, which is an ancient construction process that has been handed down.
After 600 years of ups and downs and vicissitudes of the world, why has the Forbidden City remained so good and looks so new?
In fact, the protection and preservation of palace cultural relics and buildings have been affected in many ways.
First of all, what we see now is not the Forbidden City when it was first built, but today's Forbidden City has undergone uninterrupted renovations, including two major renovations in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China and in 1974. By 2002, the first overall overhaul was ushered in three phases: short-term, medium-term and long-term, namely from 2003 to 2008, from 2009 to 2014, and from 2015 to 2020.
In each repair process, researchers have always adhered to the method of combining traditional materials, processes and technologies with modern scientific and technological protection to ensure the historical authenticity and integrity of the Forbidden City buildings and effectively protect and continue.
Every renovation and repair is to improve the preservation capacity of the Forbidden City building.
In addition to the meticulous maintenance of researchers and the country's strong investment in the renovation of the Forbidden City, another reason why the Forbidden City has been able to endure for a long time comes from its lacquer process.
The paint used in ancient architecture is different from modern times, there was no modern technology in ancient times, and there was no synthetic paint, so every place that needs to be colored in the ancient buildings of the Forbidden City basically uses mineral pigments, that is, inorganic pigments.
Ancient lacquer is made with tung oil boiled, plus cinnabar, gall alum, barberry or directly plant-based toner ingredients. For example, the red color required for the murals in the Forbidden City will be mixed with tung oil with cinnabar to create the desired color.
In terms of color, the color of paint in the ancient building is different from the color of modern workers. The paint of the Forbidden City is based on the number of minerals put into the tung oil and determines the shade of color, and it is less likely to fade; therefore, the architectural color of the Forbidden City will be thicker and brighter, and the color will be more durable.
In addition to the difference in paint technology from modern times, the painting technique of the Forbidden City building is also very exquisite.
Ancient craftsmen painted not with brushes, but with silk heads. The so-called silk head is that the silk can be used to make clothes. First rub the paint on the pillar and other things that need to be painted with a silk head, and after rubbing it about three or four times, the paint is finished. But at this time, the paint is uneven, so it is necessary to use a kind of thing called a plug made of bristles to scrape the paint flat.
In addition, the thickness of the paint rubbed with the silk head will be greater than that of the brush brush, and the hand can be used vigorously when rubbing, which is conducive to the penetration of the paint into the inside of the column, and the color of the column body is more durable.
Today's Forbidden City repair and preservation methods in the use of the ancestors of the ancient construction process, but also the integration of modern technology, after each repair process accumulated experience, as well as the careful maintenance of researchers, there is a forbidden city wooden building that still looks well preserved and brightly colored.