Original title: Changzhi National Treasure - Into the Five Phoenix Building (Jade Emperor View) Series (II)
Text/Han Jing
After our group arrived at the Wufeng Tower in the Southern Song Dynasty Village of Changzhi County, it coincided with the day after the heavy snow fell in the sky; the distant sunny sun rose high, and we looked at the Wufeng Tower in the distance, in the snow, and we were left alone on the side of Yang Liuyi, and we had some interest.
Looking at the majestic mountain on the south side, the Gaoyang Temple (newly built) above the peak of the mountain stands quietly in a white solemn mu, like a heavy ink and color of the gongbi landscape painting, this scene is indeed nostalgic.
(Wufenglou is very professional Director Guo)
Walking into the Wufeng Building, Director Guo here was already waiting next to him. Mandarin is not very standard, he looks middle-aged, looks like an honest cropper. In the process of talking and explaining, we learned that he was originally an ordinary employee of a nearby factory, and it was because he loved ancient construction and highly respected the architecture of The Five Phoenix Tower, so he was voluntarily transferred here to engage in cultural relics management and explanation work;
In the later introduction, the degree of familiarity with the ancient architectural structure he showed, the grasp of many architectural characteristics of the Wufeng Tower, and the accuracy of the identification of specific components all amazed us, thinking of several cultural relics "directors" in other regions along the way, it can be seen that the managers of shanxi's cultural management institutes are indeed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and many of them are masters with extraordinary skills.
One five phoenix building
Wufeng Lou, that is, the old building of the Mountain Gate of the Jade Emperor Temple, was built in the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming and Qing dynasties were repaired, and the main existing style is still the style of the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, and the overall emphasis is on the delicacy in the rough.
There is a wide field in front of the building, and a stage has been built on the front in recent years. The construction of a stage in front of a Buddhist temple, a palace temple, and even an ancestral hall is a major feature of Shanxi's surviving ancient buildings, and according to known data, the ancient opera stage left over from Shanxi is also the largest number of provinces in China.
Wufeng floor is three rooms wide, the depth is also three, the plane is a square appearance, the outer side of the construction of heavy eaves dripping water plus corridor, it is rumored that the Qing Dynasty added an outbuilding, but did not destroy its overall style. On the east side of the Ming Dynasty, there is an inscription engraved on it, which reads:
Township Covenant Qin Anzhi, Sheshou Miqi, Wang Sanxi..."
Here it needs to be explained that the so-called township covenant and the head of the society are all the names of a kind of spontaneous organization in the ancient villages, such as the township covenant, which is roughly equivalent to the chief of the village, responsible for handling daily civil disputes, and is generally borne by the elders of the clan and the qualified elders; and the head of the society, according to the explanation of Zhao Shuli, a peasant writer from Shanxi, is the leader in charge of major activities such as sacrifice in the village.
WufengLou is mainly exquisite in the building, each floor outside the building is supported by bucket arches, and the corners of each floor are paved with corners as four stacks. The number of paving on the base is as many as twelve stacks; each arch is equipped with seven paving as single and double lower and double lower, the piano face is ang, and the third floor adopts four eaves, supports the flat seat, and the floor slab of the second floor of the building is exactly flush, which is a solid floor.
Walking into the building, standing on the first floor and looking up, you can see a strange scene of the Wufeng Building: the thorn wood beams.
As we all know, the thorn itself is a wild shrub, basically not large, generally used to bend the basket, you can see the kind of bud-like talent that can be used in the building, which is extremely rare. The use of thorn wood with a diameter of 30 or 40 centimeters as a beam is even rarer in the world, and it can be said that it is the only place in the whole country.
Also on the first floor, you can see an extremely rough one that leads from the ground to the second floor, and it can hardly be called a "single wooden staircase" of stairs.
This escalator has been used for hundreds of years, and it is a reverential feeling to think of the person who climbed the hill and climbed to the second floor through this trembling and majestic single tree. This ladder carved from mulberry wood is seven meters high, with a diameter of 42 centimeters and a large head diameter of 76 centimeters, and 15 steps are carved; according to the annual ring, it is 500 years old.
After the construction of a new wooden staircase on the west side in 1993, this staircase is currently mainly used for ornamental purposes. On the nameplate next to it is a sentence:
Liu Tianjun excused himself not to sacrifice the Heavenly Tree, the Jade Emperor's soul and the Red Lotus
2. Dedication Pavilion
Located on the north side of wufenglou, the two are close together, which is the second single building on the central axis and one of the three classic buildings of the Jade Emperor Temple. Here there is a wide and deep room, square, with a stomping front and back, and on the bluestone masonry Meru-style pavilion, there are railings, railings, columns, etc., the technique is exquisite and gorgeous.
One of the highlights of the pavilion is the four stone pillars.
On the square pillar, carved with dragon, phoenix, curly grass, flowers and other patterns, simple lines, refined techniques, obviously the early Ming Dynasty kind of very vigorous dragon carving techniques, and its mid-Ming era background is very disproportionate.
Another attraction of the pavilion is the use of wood and moi. The pavilion is empty on all sides, and the octagonal algae wells are placed on the corner beams, stacked layer by layer, until the roof carries the load, which is elegant and heavy, but it does not lose its delicacy, and with the gentle upturning of the eaves, the pavilion is also like a phoenix that spreads its wings and wants to fly.
According to the explanation of Guo Guo of Wufenglou, the reason why the four characters of these four eaves corners endure feng shui sun and thundering electric shocks day and night is because they are the four evil people who are disliked by the people of Changzhi: Pang Juan, Wu Zixu, Han Xin, and Luo Cheng, which is also a rather unique local legend system in Changzhi, which is very different from other regions.
3. Jade Emperor View
The Jade Emperor Temple, located on a high platform at the back of the museum, is dedicated to the highest taoist god, the Jade Emperor. In front of the main hall, there is a rather spacious platform, according to the research of experts, it is determined that this is an ancient platform, which is used to reward the gods for performances; some people believe that because the folk belief is very deep, when the incense is strong, this is a place to place tributes and incense cases and worship the gods.
The main hall is five rooms wide and three deep, and adopts a rare single eaves overhanging the top of the mountain.
It is said that it is rare, in fact, it is not uncommon to hang on the top of the mountain, and it has appeared in large numbers in houses. However, it is indeed rare to use it on such a seemingly imposing and grand-scale shrine of the gods.
The Jade Emperor Temple has two major characteristics, one is that the whole hall is basically a square stone pillar, which is a unique custom in southeast Jin, according to local conditions; the other is that the Ming Dynasty glass craft at the top of the temple is well preserved.
Of particular note is the arching practice of the main hall;
Conventionally speaking, the terms we are familiar with are "single copy single down ang", "single copy double down ang", etc.; or a few paving, but in the face of the Jade Emperor Temple's bucket arch, it is really impossible to describe this structure, because it is really too rare, this is actually "single copy five times ang six jumps and thirteen steps"!
Everyone in the industry agreed that the three main buildings of the Changzhi Wufeng Tower, any of which are placed in other provinces or regions alone, can be said to be well-deserved national treasure-level cultural relics; and these three magnificent ancient buildings are miraculously gathered in a corner of Changzhi County, but they are not known, which is a great loss to the ancient construction community; if you can't see it, it is a great regret for the search enthusiasts (Han Jing). 【Easy subscription into cultural relics Shanxi】