Lost overseas for nearly a hundred years Tianlongshan Grottoes Buddha head returned to the homeland

Guangming Daily Taiyuan, July 24 (Reporter Li Jianbin) On the 24th, the return ceremony of the "8th Cave North Wall Lord Buddha Head" of the Tianlongshan Grottoes, which has been lost overseas for nearly a hundred years, was held at the Tianlongshan Grottoes Museum in Taiyuan, Shanxi. This is the first precious lost cultural relics returned from Japan to the Tianlongshan Grottoes in nearly a hundred years.

The returning Buddha's head was officially unveiled on the 24th of the "Return of the National Treasure on the Road to Rejuvenation" Tianlongshan Grottoes Return to the Buddha's First Special Exhibition, and as a core exhibit, it was displayed here for a long time. With the return of the Buddha's head in Tianlong Mountain as the main line, the exhibition is divided into two units: the death of the prosperous world and the return of the prosperous world, and comprehensively uses precious cultural relics, historical pictures, digital restoration, 3D printed grottoes and other forms to comprehensively tell the loss and return process of cultural relics in tianlong mountain grottoes, and show the latest achievements in the investigation and research of lost cultural relics, archaeological excavation, restoration and protection.

On July 24, at the Tianlongshan Grottoes Museum in Taiyuan City, visitors photographed the returning Tianlongshan Grottoes "The Head of the Lord buddha on the north wall of Cave 8". Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chai Ting

According to reports, the head of the Buddha is 33.7 centimeters long, 30.4 centimeters wide, 44.5 centimeters high, and weighs 55.5 kilograms. The Buddha's head has a low bun, a rounded face, eyes slightly closed, lips slightly pursed, a subtle smile, skilled carving technology, delicate expression techniques, distinct characteristics of the times, with the remarkable characteristics of the late Northern Dynasty to the early Sui Dynasty, and is a precious physical specimen for studying the Tianlongshan Grottoes and even the ancient grotto art in China, with important historical, artistic and scientific value, and is tentatively designated as a national first-class cultural relic.

Located on the mountainside of Tianlong Mountain, 40 kilometers southwest of Taiyuan City, tianlongshan grottoes were once famous for their exquisite stone carving art and distinctive regional style. There are 24 caves excavated by the Eastern Wei, Northern Qi, Sui and Tang Dynasties, and there are more than 1500 grotto statues and 1144 reliefs, algae wells and portraits. In the 1920s, the Tianlongshan Grottoes were excavated on a large scale, and a large number of cultural relics, including the "Lord of the Buddha's Head on the North Wall of Cave 8", were lost overseas. In September 2020, the Buddha's head appeared at auction in Japan. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage, together with relevant ministries and commissions, has gone through a tortuous recourse action to promote the return of the Buddha's head to the motherland. Since the beginning of this year, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, together with relevant departments in Shanxi, has promoted the selection of sites for the display of Buddha heads, the transformation of a safe environment, and the planning and production of exhibitions, so as to create conditions for the return of Buddha heads to their original territories.

The Chinese government reserves the right to recourse historically stolen and illegally exported cultural relics. At the return ceremony, Li Qun, vice minister of culture and tourism and director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, resource investigation, legal improvement, capacity building and other work will be carried out in an orderly manner, and through all possible and necessary channels, more lost cultural relics will be recovered and returned.

For why the Buddha's head and the Buddha's body are not united, Yu Hao, director of the Tianlongshan Grotto Museum, said that the north wall of cave 8, where the Buddha's head was originally located, is close to the cliff body, the cliff body fissure is more serious, and if the Buddha head is placed in place, it will be difficult to avoid a certain degree of weathering, so the Buddha head will be preserved and permanently exhibited in the museum. The specially designed lighting and ultra-low reflectivity display cabinets in the exhibition hall can perfectly present the attractive contour lines of the Buddha's head.

Guangming Daily ( 2021-07-25 04 edition)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily