As an important part of the ancient buildings of Wudang Mountain, a world cultural heritage, the ruins of Yuzhen Palace have extremely important historical, cultural and artistic values. At the same time, as one of the most important cultural relics protection projects in the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, its cultural relics protection is of great significance, and it is necessary to ensure that the impact of the water level increase of the Danjiangkou Reservoir on the Yuzhen Palace site is minimized. Therefore, scientific archaeological excavation is an important prerequisite for understanding the value of the Yuzhen Palace site and protecting the Yuzhen Palace site. Through the large-scale archaeological excavation of the Yuzhen Palace site, the overall scope, age, layout and architectural characteristics of the Yuzhen Palace site are basically clarified, which provides a scientific basis for formulating the work plan for the protection of cultural relics of the Yuzhen Palace site, enriches the historical and cultural connotation of the Yuzhen Palace site, and fills the shortcomings of the research and protection of the ancient building site of the Ming and Qing dynasties in Wudang Mountain.
Staging of the foundation site of the Yuzhen Palace
The building base of Yuzhen Palace is large-scale, mainly composed of the West Palace, the East Palace, the Middle Palace and the outbuildings outside the palace. Excavations have shown that there are certain differences in the construction methods of the foundation sites of the buildings in the Yuzhen Palace, reflecting obvious historical characteristics. The construction age of the foundation site of the West Palace of Yuzhen Palace can be roughly divided into four periods: F1~F9, F12, the water well and the first and second courtyards, the sixth and seventh courtyards were built during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty; F11 was built after the construction of the Yuzhen Palace during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty and before the overhaul of the Yuzhen Palace in the Jiajing period; F10 and the third courtyard and the fourth and fifth courtyards and the main Yonglu of the West Palace were built during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty; F14 and the eighth and ninth courtyards were built after the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Ming Dynasty.
The construction age of the building foundation site of the East Palace of Yuzhen Palace can be roughly divided into three periods: F1~F4, courtyard 1, courtyard 2, courtyard 4, and water well were built during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty; the bluestone Yonglu north of F4 was built during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty; F5, F6 and the third courtyard were built after the Chongzhen year of the Ming Dynasty. It can be seen that the architecture of Yuzhen Palace revealed by archaeology was not completed at one time, but went through a long process of construction, maintenance, expansion, damage and abandonment. This long process is not an isolated phenomenon of a building unit, but to a certain extent reflects the rise and fall of dynasties and religions and social changes at that time.
Based on the documentary data and the phenomena revealed by archaeology, we divide the architectural history of the foundation site of the Yuzhen Palace into four periods: construction, expansion, repair and abandonment, during which the partial maintenance and reconstruction are not separately expressed.
01
Construction period (Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty)
According to the record of "Ejian Dayue Taihe Mountain Chronicles": "(Zhang Sanfeng) Hongwu first came to Wudang,...... Ordered Qiu Xuanqing to live in Wulong, Lu Qiuyun to live in Nanyan, and Liu Guquan and Yang Shancheng to live in Zixiao,...... The loess city of Budi is called the fairy hall. "Emperor Yongle of the Later Ming Dynasty looked for Zhang Sanfeng and disappeared, and built a real palace here. F1~F9, F12, water wells, courtyards 1 and 2, courtyards 6 and 7 of the west palace of Yuzhen Palace, F1~F4, courtyards 1, 2, 4 and middle palaces, palace walls, and Shinto were all built at this time, laying the basic pattern of the Yuzhen Palace complex. Its construction is carried out in strict accordance with the requirements of the Ming Dynasty official architecture, the whole building complex is basically built in accordance with the traditional Chinese architectural style, the overall architectural layout of the palace is determined by taking the layout method of the right type, with the north-south and east-west directions as the main axis, the overall architectural layout is reasonable, the scale is large, the structure is rigorous, and the materials are exquisite.
02
Expansion period (from Yongle to the end of the Ming Dynasty)
After Yongle in the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Ming Dynasty, the successive emperors of the Ming Dynasty have issued many orders to inquire about the maintenance and expansion of the Wudang Mountain building complex including the Yuzhen Palace, during this period, the maintenance and expansion of the building to a large extent use the original Yongle period of the building, to the Jiajing period, the original 97 buildings in the palace were expanded to 396. F11, F10, F14, Courtyard 3, Courtyard 4, Courtyard 5, Courtyard 8, Courtyard 9, Main Yong Road, and the Bluestone Yong Road north of F4 of the East Palace are all expanded at this time. Although the maintenance and reconstruction and expansion at this time have changed with the development of the times and technology in terms of technology, architectural style and materials, the palace building complex has maintained the architectural style and layout of the early Ming Dynasty to a large extent, and the entire Yuzhen Palace complex has a certain continuity and development to a large extent.
It should be pointed out that some of the ground buildings in the Yuzhen Palace in the late Ming Dynasty may have been damaged or even abandoned. For example, the 5 cultural relics unearthed in Z1 in the West Palace F14 are well preserved, among which the copper coin numbered West Z1:1 is "Chongzhen Tongbao", and the inner bottom of the bowl numbered West Z1:2 has the year of "Chongzhen three years", which shows that the abandoned age of Z1 is three years after Chongzhen. The stove is indispensable in people's daily lives, and it is inferred from the preservation integrity of the artifacts excavated in Z1 that Z1 was completely discarded in a short period of time and was not reused in the future. The complete abandonment of this building, which is closely related to people's daily lives, was not a sudden destruction, but seemed to be related to the large-scale and rapid disaster that existed at the time, and it was impossible to repair it in the future. Considering the geographical location of Yuzhen Palace and the age of Z1's destruction, we speculate that flash floods or wars at the end of the Ming Dynasty may be the main reasons for the destruction or even abandonment of some ground buildings in Yuzhen Palace.
03
Renovation period (early to mid-early morning)
"Wudang Mountain Chronicles" records that some local officials and Taoist priests of the Kangxi and Qianlong dynasties of the Qing Dynasty have recruited and repaired the Yuzhen Palace. At this time, although some of the buildings of Yuzhen Palace were damaged, most of the buildings still existed. Because most of the repairers were local officials and Taoist priests, the buildings they repaired no longer had the style of Ming Dynasty official buildings, and the architectural layout also appeared to be more arbitrary. For example, the existing building of the Dragon and Tiger Hall in the middle of the palace is the style of rebuilding in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, and the third and F6 inner courtyards of the East Palace are expanded on the basis of the second courtyard. At this time, the building materials were also simplified and arbitrary, such as the foundation of the East Palace F6 is a mixture of brick and stone, and some of its materials (such as green bricks) use the raw materials of abandoned buildings in the Ming Dynasty.
04
Abandoned period (mid to late Qing Dynasty)
From the analysis of the relics found in the abandoned accumulation layer of the building foundation of the East Palace and the West Palace of the Yuzhen Palace, most of the porcelain unearthed in the West Palace belongs to the middle and late Ming Dynasty to the late Ming Dynasty, while the porcelain unearthed in the East Palace has the characteristics of porcelain from the late Ming Dynasty to the Kangxi and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty. At this time, the overall function of the religious temple of Yuzhen Palace has declined, but the middle palace of Yuzhen Palace may still play a partial function. This situation is consistent with the loss of Wudang Mountain's historical status as the largest dojo of the Ming imperial family, and it is also a true portrayal of the decline of Taoism in Wudang Mountain. It is speculated that from the beginning of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the buildings built in the original Ming Dynasty in the East and West Palaces have been completely abandoned one after another, and new buildings have begun to be built on the accumulation of abandoned buildings, such as the surviving buildings in the southwest corner of the East Palace are the buildings of the Republic of China.
The layout of the foundation site of the Yuzhen Palace
The layout of Yuzhen Palace is in the shape of a curved ruler, which is composed of three parts: the West Palace, the East Palace, and the Middle Palace, and is surrounded by palace walls. The archaeological revelation of the Yuzhen Palace building foundation site includes the building foundation site from the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty to the early and middle Qing Dynasty, and its scale is huge, and the basic structure is relatively complete and clear. It can be seen that the construction of the Yuzhen Palace complex has gone through a relatively long historical process, and its building foundation site has changed with the times and technological development in terms of technology, architectural style and materials, but the basic layout and style of the entire building complex were laid in the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, and developed and continued on this basis.
01
The architectural layout of the Ming Yongle period of Yuzhen Palace
Yuzhen Palace was built in accordance with the official building regulations in the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, and its architectural layout can be followed, and the overall architectural layout of the palace is determined by taking the layout method of the right type, and the main axis of the north-south and east-west directions is symmetrically arranged in each palace and the main building complex in the palace.
The first north-south main central axis: the axis of the mountain gate of the middle palace - the dragon and tiger hall - the real immortal hall is the main axis, which not only symmetrically distributes the buildings in the middle palace, but also distributes the east and west palaces irregularly and symmetrically.
The second east-west central axis: from west to east, the central axis is the West Palace F3 - West Palace F1 - West Palace Gate - East Palace Gate - East Palace F1 - East Palace F3. Between the front hall and the main hall, symmetrical side halls are placed on both sides, constituting the two main quadrangles in the east and west palaces.
Each palace has a central axis in the main palace on the basis of the general axis.
The West Palace is located in the west of the Middle Palace, enters through the palace gate in the front yard of the Middle Palace, the plane layout is rectangular, surrounded by the palace wall on all sides, the palace gate is set up at the east palace wall, and the West Palace building complex is one or two into the quadrangle. There are two central axes in the palace. The first is the east-west central axis: the west palace gate - F1 (front hall) - F3 (main hall) is the central axis, the north and south sides between the front hall and the main hall are equipped with halls, and the junction of the four corners and two rooms is connected to a nearly square courtyard courtyard courtyard one, the courtyard is full of bluestone floors, and the courtyard is set up with a shadow wall 1; the second is the north-south axis: F2 (partial hall) - F4 (partial hall) - F5 (corridor room) - F6 (courtyard two front halls) - F9 (courtyard two main halls) - F12 (corridor room) - The well (J1) is the central axis, the front hall F6 of the second courtyard, the east and west sides of the main hall F9 are set up with the hall F7, F8, there is a copy of the hand corridor at the junction of the two rooms in the four corners to connect into a quadrangle courtyard of an approximate square, the courtyard is full of bluestone floors, and there is no shadow wall. J1 is connected to F9 by the gallery F12. In addition to courtyards and houses, there are also bluestone roads, ditches and other related relics units.
The East Palace is located in the east of the Middle Palace, entering through the palace gate in the front yard of the Middle Palace, the plane is nearly square, and it is surrounded by the palace wall. The East Palace building group is distinctly divided into primary and secondary, with a large courtyard as the main body, and there are cross-courtyards, houses and other buildings symmetrically distributed along the axis of the courtyard buildings. There are two central axes. The first is the east-west central axis: with the east palace gate - F1 (front hall) - F3 (main hall) as the central axis, the north and south sides between the front hall and the main hall are equipped with halls F2 and F4, the junction of the four corners and two rooms is connected to form an approximately square courtyard courtyard one, the courtyard is equipped with an east-west bluestone road, there is a shadow wall 1 on the road, and the two sides of the road are covered with bluestone floors; There are also bluestone roads, ditches and other related relics in the palace.
The layout of the middle palace is basically the same as that of the existing ground buildings, only part of the buildings have been rebuilt and expanded, in which the axis is shared with the first main central axis.
02
The building was expanded after the Yongle period
The buildings after the Yongle period can be roughly divided into the Ming Yongle period to the end of the Ming Dynasty and the late Ming Dynasty to the early and early Qing Dynasty according to the age, and the buildings of these two periods are systematically expanded on the basis of the original building layout, and the other is the irregular repair and expansion on the basis of the original building layout. Among them, the buildings from the Yongle period to the end of the Ming Dynasty still have a certain discipline, and the buildings from the late Ming Dynasty to the early and early years are completely chaotic and cannot grasp their laws.
The buildings from Yongle to the end of the Ming Dynasty were mainly based on the expansion of buildings in the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, and the buildings of this period developed their own architectural layout and characteristics on the basis of following the architectural layout and axis of the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty. At this time, the Yuzhen Palace was expanded on the basis of the two main central axes of the original Yongle period, and many new buildings were expanded.
On the basis of the original north-south main central axis, the buildings in the West Palace are symmetrically built with F5 as the axis, and the courtyard and the courtyard are symmetrically. F10 was built symmetrically with F8 on the axis of the third section of the newly built Yonglu Road (north-south direction), and the fifth courtyard was built to raise the specifications of F11.
The buildings in the East Palace did not undergo major changes at this time, and only a bluestone road was built that was symmetrically distributed along the first main central axis of the West Palace. In addition to the traffic function, this road has also evolved into other functions later. According to the inscription East T3 (3):49 unearthed from the East Palace in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, it is recorded that "the place where the Lin Palace was built, and the inscription was glorious", the road that was built at that time should be this road. It is impossible for the monument erector to erect the monument at the Yonglu place, and it is impossible to establish it at will in the palace, and only by following the system in the palace and the practice of the predecessors to erect the monument can the monument be erected smoothly, so it is speculated that the main Yonglu of the East Palace at that time was the place where the monument was erected in the Yuzhen Palace. According to the number of inscriptions found in the East Palace, it is speculated that this road has become a forest of steles in the Yuzhen Palace.
The buildings in the middle palace have not undergone major changes, only two side gates were built in the backyard, and it is speculated that there is also a bluestone road connecting the east and west palaces in the open space between the backyard building and the courtyard wall. According to the description of the local elders, they have seen stone roads paved from the backyard of the Middle Palace to the walls of the Middle Palace, and then they were completely destroyed due to the repair of houses and farming.
This article is excerpted from the sixth chapter "Conclusion" of "Wudang Mountain Yuzhen Palace Ruins" edited by Hubei Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, Hubei Provincial Immigration Bureau, and South-to-North Water Diversion Middle Line Water Source Co., Ltd. The content has been slightly abridged and adjusted.