The rare lacquer pot, the jujube kernel treasured in the copper kettle by the king of Nanyue, and the divination unearthed in the main coffin room...... On December 25, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of archaeology in Guangzhou and the 40th anniversary of the discovery and excavation of the tomb of King Wen of Nanyue, the Museum of King Wen of Nanyue specially planned and held the "Exploration and Practice - Special Exhibition of the 40th Anniversary of the Discovery of the Tomb of King Wen of Nanyue".
Exhibition view
"In this exhibition, in order to discover the story behind the 40-year tomb of King Wen of Nanyue, we selected some cultural relics from the collection warehouse that were rarely exhibited before, and combined the cultural relics with the achievements of archaeologists to show the whole process of excavation, protection and inheritance. Shi Mingli, deputy director of the exhibition department of the Nanyue King Museum, said.
A number of precious cultural relics were assembled and exhibited for the first time
The reporter noticed that the exhibition with the four themes of "Amazing Discovery", "Ten Thousand Years of Eternal Protection", "Pushing the Old and Bringing the New" and "Passing on the Torch", displayed the unearthed cultural relics, data pictures and a variety of tools and supplies, showing the 40 years since the discovery of the tomb of King Wen of South Vietnam in an all-round and multi-angle way.
Exhibition view
First-hand archaeological data, expert manuscripts, approval documents, etc. complement each other with archaeological relics, and the excavation process of the ruins of the Nanyue National Palace Administration and the wooden sluice sites of the Nanyue State are also narrated...... In the first part, "Amazing Discoveries", the exhibition tells the process of discovering and excavating the three major Nanyue ruins.
In addition, for the first time, some precious cultural relics are displayed in the exhibition, such as a bronze mirror that has not been treated with rust, a copper kettle and jujube pit for jujubes, an owl-foot copper oven with fan soil inside, and precious lacquer pots.
Historical materials on display at the exhibition
"Ten Thousand Years of Eternal Protection" tells the story of the process of site protection, cultural relics protection and the construction and display of the original site. In terms of site protection, since the excavation of the relics of the Nanyue Kingdom, the site itself has been protected by building protection sheds and constructing drainage facilities.
In terms of the protection of cultural relics, the museum monitors and controls the preservation environment of cultural relics, delays the damage caused by natural transformation of cultural relics, and establishes an environmental monitoring system, so that the protection of cultural relics in the collection of the museum has changed from the traditional "rescue" protection to the modern "preventive" protection. Interestingly, a series of technological equipment was displayed at the exhibition site, and even a dental scaler, which is a tool that may be used in the conservation of cultural relics.
A copper kettle and a jujube pit for jujubes
This part also tells the history of the construction of the site: after the excavation of the tomb of King Wen of Nanyue in 1983, the Guangzhou Municipal People's Government decided to permanently protect the tomb and build a museum on the original site.
In "Passing on the Torch", the reporter saw that an immersive experience space was created on the spot, showing the public the desks of archaeologists Mr. Mak Yinghao and Mr. Huang Zhanyue, as well as office supplies, books and tools, and also set up a special counter for donated porcelain pillows, showing the contribution of Mr. and Mrs. Yang Yongde to the cultural and museum cause in Guangzhou.
漆卮
"By telling the stories of archaeologists, cultural and museum people, people from all walks of life and museums, we hope to show their important contributions to the protection, utilization and research of the relics of South Vietnam in the past 40 years. Shi Mingli told reporters.
First-hand archaeological materials on display at the exhibition
Digital exhibitions create an immersive viewing experience
Different from the exhibition with cultural relics as the main object, this exhibition has a distinctive style, a variety of exhibits, and makes full use of information technology to strengthen interaction, which is an innovative work of the museum's 40th anniversary of external exhibition.
Technological equipment for the protection of cultural relics is on display
In terms of space creation, the exhibition strives to create an immersive viewing experience: the prologue hall is related to the theme of the "40" sculpture, and the sculpture is surrounded by a circle of old photos to present important moments in the past 40 years, and the old photos from 1983 to 2023 are displayed around the circle, and when you enter the exhibition hall, the important time nodes and events are presented in luminous fonts on the aisle, making people seem to revisit the 40-year process.
At the beginning of the exhibition, a multimedia interactive excavation story is set up, and the audience can enter the archaeological sites of three Nanyue ruins by touching the screen to experience the surprises brought by different archaeological discoveries; on the back of the independent display case of the copper oven, a transparent screen is playing the story of Nanyue told by the person in charge of site protection and collection management; and the holographic projection screens on both sides of the "Nanyue Yaji" show the three-dimensional patterns of many Nanyue treasures and the virtual narrator "Xiao Yu" After the exhibition, the audience can stand in front of the "Magic Mirror" and take a group photo with the cultural relics, and the group photo is projected onto the "Luminous Tree" on the side, indicating the continuous growth of South Vietnamese culture......
Exhibition view
Link:
The three major sites are connected by a cultural context
Why are the archaeological finds of the tomb of King Wen of South Vietnam so important?
Exhibition view
Since 1953, Guangzhou has carried out large-scale field archaeological work in conjunction with urban construction projects, and great achievements have been made in archaeological work in Guangzhou in the past 70 years. As an important part of Guangzhou's archaeological achievements, the "Relics of Nanyue Kingdom", which consists of the tomb of King Wen of Nanyue, the ruins of the Nanyue National Palace Administration and the ruins of the wooden sluice gates of Nanyue, were selected into the "Tentative List of China's World Cultural Heritage" in 2006.
In 2012, the site of the Nanyue National Palace Administration and the tomb of King Wen of Nanyue were once again selected into the tentative list as the "Historic Site of the Maritime Silk Road in Guangzhou". In 2021, the ruins of the Nanyue National Palace Administration and the tomb of the Nanyue King were selected as one of the "Top 100 Archaeological Discoveries in a Hundred Years". Together with other material and cultural relics of the Western Han Dynasty, the relics of the Nanyue Kingdom present the political and cultural pattern of the integration of the family and state in the Qin, Han and Lingnan dynasties, and are an important historical witness to the integration of the Lingnan region into a unified multi-ethnic state since the Qin and Han dynasties. The three relics of Nanyue are all national key cultural relics protection units, and are classic examples of urban archaeological protection and construction.
Exhibition view
Discovered in 1983 in Xianggang Mountain, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou City, the tomb of King Wen of Nanyue, is the mausoleum of Zhao Yuan, the second king of Nanyue. The tomb is well preserved, not stolen and excavated, among which more than 1,000 pieces (sets) of precious cultural relics have been unearthed, which collects the essence of the cultural relics of the Qin and Han dynasties in one place, and is the largest, best-preserved, and most unearthed artifacts in the Han Dynasty painted stone chamber tomb in the Lingnan region, which is a milestone in the archaeology of the Han Dynasty in Lingnan since the founding of New China.
Located in the center of the old city of Guangzhou, the site of the Nanyue National Palace is the seat of the county, county, prefecture and government offices of all dynasties since the unification of Lingnan by Qin, the essence of Guangzhou's historical and cultural city, and the proof of Guangzhou as the political, economic and cultural center of Lingnan, known as the "center of Lingnan for two thousand years". The ruins of the palace of Nanyue Kingdom are mainly composed of the stone pond (Fan Pond) excavated in 1995 and the meandering stone canal excavated in 1997.
The armor excavated from the main coffin chamber
Located on the basement floor of Guangming Square Commercial Building, Xihu Road, Guangzhou, the site of the wooden sluice gate of Nanyue is the site of drainage and water conservancy facilities of Nanyue more than 2,000 years ago, which has the functions of flood control, moisture prevention, drainage and defense. The wooden sluice site of Nanyue is the earliest, largest and most complete wooden sluice site found in the world, with rich historical information and high level of science and technology, which is extremely precious for the study of the design, site selection, foundation treatment and sluice construction technology of water conservancy projects in ancient China more than 2,000 years ago.
【Writing】Nanfang + reporter Huang Kunyuan correspondent Nanyue Wang Xuan
【Photography】Southern + reporter Yao Zhihao
【Authors】 Huang Kunyuan;Yao Zhihao
[Source] Southern Press Media Group Southern + client