One of the benefits of living in Beijing is that you can visit the Palace Museum whenever you want. In fact, the first time I went to the Forbidden City, I really didn't understand much, but it was only later that I listened to the tour guide to understand that there are so many unknown stories behind the building.
Recently, I read "Civilization in Museums: Illustrating Chinese Architecture" to give me a higher level of understanding of Chinese architecture. The book not only introduces the Palace Museum in detail, but also introduces Chinese gardens, grottoes, pagodas, and dwellings. It can be said that from Neolithic architecture to modern architecture, everything that is representative is reflected in the book.
The author, Liang Hao, graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts with a degree in architecture, and later studied for a doctorate in design at the School of Architecture and Art of the China Academy of Art. Research Interests: The Orientality of Nordic Modern Architecture.
At first glance, the Forbidden City is a complex of houses connected to each other, but in fact, it is a collection of the essence of Chinese civil architecture. Every brick and tile embodies the diligence and wisdom of the working people.
Taking the dougong and the forehead fang as examples, the book lists their changes in various periods from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. These are the key structural components of traditional Chinese wooden buildings, and the Tang Dynasty buildings have grand arches and small foreheads. Because at that time, the roof of the building was protruding, and it mainly relied on the bucket arch to achieve the transmission of gravity.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the building paid more attention to grandeur and beauty, and the system of beams and columns in the building basically replaced the mechanical role of the dougong. Therefore, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the wooden buildings became larger, and the bucket arches shrank and increased.
In the book, there is not only the evolution of dougong and forehead fang in different periods, but also the evolution of the beams of the past dynasties, and the evolution of the appearance of the wooden structure hall.
The architectural legends of the Tang, Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties have their own characteristics, and the book is full of pictures and texts, so that readers can read while reading, and easily grasp what name and what it looks like, such as the top of the palace, the top of the rest of the mountain, and the top of the hanging mountain will no longer be stupid and unclear.
Fujian Tulou, Yingxian Wooden Tower,
Chinese architecture is inseparable from Chinese culture, from the architecture can clearly see the development of human civilization, like the layout of the building complex, the structure, decoration and color of the house have a certain exquisiteness, the northern architecture is mostly symmetrical on the central axis, the direction sits in the north and faces south, and there is a sense of righteousness, the order of respect and inferiority.
The book "Civilization in the Museum: Illustrating Chinese Architecture" has an in-depth analysis and interpretation from the palace compound to the people's residences, presenting the essence of Chinese architecture to readers, so that everyone who has read this book carefully can gain something, which is a very rare information book.
Author: Guiyue likes to read and write reviews, and I hope to share and communicate with everyone......
∽ ̃Welcome to follow ̃∽