[Qiaoling Shinto Stone Elephant Sheng] (This is a group of old photos of Qiaoling taken in 1988, taken by the British art historian Ann Paloudan, when Qiaoling had just become one of the third batch of national key cultural relics protection units, but no tickets were used) Qiaoling is the mausoleum of Tang Ruizong Li Dan, li dan is the eighth son of Tang Gaozong and the fourth son born to Wu Zetian. Located in Fengshan (known as Qiaoshan in Tang Dynasty) 15 kilometers northwest of Pucheng County, Weinan City, Shaanxi Province, Qiaoling was founded in the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (716 AD).
【Stone Lion】The only imperial mausoleum built in the prosperous era of Tang Kaiyuan, it is a mountain as a mausoleum, and the ground building of the cemetery is large in scale and extremely high in specification. The regulation of the bridge tomb is like the imperial city of the capital Chang'an, the mausoleum is surrounded by a sacred wall, four gates are stationed, the front Suzaku, the rear Xuanwu, the left green dragon, the right white tiger, there are gates and stone carvings in front of the four gates, the four corners of the mausoleum wall have horns, and the Suzaku Gate extends a vast Shinto path, with an east-west width of 110 meters and a north-south length of 625 meters. The scale of such a mausoleum ranks first among the eighteen imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty.
[Qiaoling Shinto Fighting Horses] Qiaoling has five pairs of war horses, each pair is different, some are decorated in front of the forehead, ear ornaments, some have saddles without stirrups; some have long manes densely draped on one side, some have two or three flowers; some saddles, saddles, saddles, saddles are complete, ornately decorated, ready to go.
[Badger stone carving] Badger, also known as badger, xie, is a mythical beast, "a corner of the head, can distinguish between curves and straights, see people fighting, then use the horn to touch the evil and unreasonable." "The badger of Qiaoling is carved from a whole piece of bluestone, 2.95 meters high, 2.9 meters long, 1.1 meters wide at the chest, and has a strong physique and majesty and fierceness. The badger is a deer head, a cow's body, a horse's hoof, a belly support for waves, a body spread of wings, and can go to heaven and enter the sea.
【Stone Lion】In the era of Han and Tang Shangwu, the brave lion became the representative of the warrior. By the time of the Tang Dynasty, the status of the lion had become more and more revered, and it had become a symbol of power and martial arts. There are a pair of stone lions at each of the four exits of Qiaoling, and they are similar and different: the East Gate Stone Lion looks forward to each other, naughty and cute; the West Gate Stone Lion has a long tongue rolled up, which is interesting; the North Gate Stone Lion tongue is against the palate, if there is a word.
When Qiaoling Weng zhong was first built, the momentum was magnificent, with more than 140 buildings, and nine tall and majestic dedication halls were even more large-scale air. At the same time, there are 23 officials such as Lingtai Ling, Main Music, Main Text, Main Yuan, and Dianshi, and 400 households guarding the tombs around them. In the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755), when Du Fu came to Pucheng to visit his relatives, he wrote the "Thirty Rhymes of Qiaoling Poems", which contains a description of Qiaoling, "The former emperor Xi Yan drove, and the mountain was a lark." Chonggang embraces the elephant set up, Woye opens the heavenly court", "Stone gate frost is white, jade hall mold Tai qing." The palace maid knows the office, and the ancestral official is facing the star. ”
【Stone Lion】 In June of the fourth year of the new century (July 13, 716), Li Dan of Tang Ruizong died in the Baifu Hall of Daming Palace at the age of 55. Eight days later, Li Dan buried the Bridge Mausoleum. In February of the thirteenth year of Tianbao (754), Li Danchen's title was changed to "Emperor Xuanzhen Dasheng Daxingxiao".
[Stone Lion, surrounded by a field of crops] In the fifth dynasty (907-979), Later Liang Yaozhou Jiedushi made Wen Tao pirate the imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty, and the bridge tombs were also excavated. The "New Five Dynasties History Of Wen Tao" records that "Tao was in the town for seven years, and those who were in the territory of the Tang Tombs were excavated and taken from their treasures." "That is to say, the bridge tomb has been excavated a thousand years ago."
As the only imperial tomb built in the Prosperous Tang Dynasty, Qiaoling is second to none in the Tang Dynasty, both in stone carving art and in scale. In particular, the stone elephant sheng next to Shinto is the best in the art of stone carving in Tang Dynasty tombs, together with Qianling.
【Qiaoling Ostrich Stone Carving】Qiaoling Ostrich Stone Carving adopts the relief carving technique of the Six Dynasties of Han and Wei Dynasties, combining line carving and circular carving, with beautiful shape, lively and vivid, looking back at the wings and stepping on the rockery. In addition, the ostrich stone carving placed in front of the Tang Dynasty mausoleum began in Qianling, which was a witness to the friendly exchanges between China and foreign countries at that time, "showing the openness and inclusiveness of the Tang Empire and showing the Huaiyuan virtue of the Tang Emperor." ”