Beiyue Temple

Beiyue temple is the most magnificent one in Hengshan temple. It is located under the stone wall in the south of Dafeng mountain, the main peak of Hengshan Mountain. There are 103 stone steps in front of the gate, which lead to the mountain gate and Beiyue temple gate. There is a long couplet on the side of the door. The first couplet is: "Hengyue is the only one in the Central Plains who has been cultivated by the holy Dynasty for three hundred years"; the second couplet is "Wenchang six star couplet, Beidou is a real person who can carve dragons, embroider tigers and shine majestically in the nine heavens".

Beiyue Temple

Beiyue temple, called Beiyue temple in Han Dynasty, Beiyue temple in Tang Dynasty, Beiyue temple in Song Dynasty, Beiyue temple in Yuan Dynasty, Beiyue temple in Ming Dynasty, was renamed Beiyue temple. It was located at No.2 Beiyue Road, Hengzhou Town, west of Quyang County, Baoding City, Hebei Province. It was first built in the Northern Wei Dynasty (500-512) and the 17th year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty（ Before 1660, Beiyue temple was a place for feudal emperors to worship the God of Hengshan Mountain, covering an area of 173982 square meters.

The architectural pattern of Beiyue temple is in the shape of "Tian" with north facing south. It adopts the traditional architectural form with the central axis as the main and the two sides symmetrical.

The main building of the temple, the hall of Dening, is located at the north end of the central axis. To the south, there are Feishi hall, Sanshan gate, Lingxiao gate, Yuxiang Pavilion, Chaoyue gate, memorial archway, stone bridge, etc. Beiyue temple is a cultural and artistic palace with rich connotation, which integrates ancient architecture, painting, calligraphy, stone carving, Ding porcelain and other arts.

Beiyue Temple inscriptions provide valuable material for the study of the evolution of politics, economy, culture and calligraphy art of the times.

On February 23, 1982, Beiyue temple was announced as the second batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council of the people's Republic of China.

On January 10, 2011, beiyuemiao scenic spot was approved as a national AAAA scenic spot by the quality rating committee of National Tourism Administration.

Historical evolution

Beiyue temple was built in the period of the northern and Southern Dynasties (500-512).

From the Han Dynasty to the 17th year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1660), Hengshan, the northern mountain, was worshipped by the emperor.

During the reign of Tang Zhenguan (627-649), Beiyue temple was rebuilt, and it was repaired and expanded to some extent in successive dynasties.

In 735, Beiyue temple was expanded.

In the first year of Chunhua of Song Dynasty (990), Qidan invaded and burned Beiyue temple. The next year, Taizong of Song Dynasty ordered to rebuild it.

In the early Yuan Dynasty, Beiyue temple was set up as a place for Taoist activities.

Since 1660, Beiyue temple was gradually abandoned.

Architectural pattern

Beiyue temple is 542 meters long from north to South and 321 meters wide from east to west. It covers a total area of 173982 square meters, including a construction area of 3.8 million square meters. Its architectural pattern is in the shape of "Tian", which faces south from north. It adopts the traditional architectural form with the central axis as the main and the two sides symmetrical.

From south to north, the original buildings are: Dengyue bridge, Shenmen, Paifang, Chaoyue gate, Yuxiang Pavilion, Lingxiao gate, Sanshan gate, Feishi hall, Dening hall, houzhaimen and Wangyue Pavilion. The temple of Dening is the main building of the temple. To the west, there are the West Zhaofu gate, the West Jinlu gate and the west gate of the city. To the East, there are the East Zhaofu gate, the East Jinlu gate, the gate and the memorial archway. In addition, there are several stele towers and stele pavilions, which are scattered on both sides of the central axis.

Main buildings

overview

The main buildings of Beiyue temple are arranged on the north-south axis. The existing buildings include Yuxiang Pavilion, Lingxiao gate, Sanshan gate, Feitai hall site and the hall of Dening, and there are some stele pavilions on both sides.

Temple of Dening

The temple of Dening, the main building of Beiyue temple, was built in 1270 and rebuilt in 1347,

It is the largest existing wooden structure building of Yuan Dynasty in China. The hall of Dening faces south, covering an area of 2009.8 square meters, with a height of 25 meters, 9 rooms in width and 6 rooms in depth. The floor is plastered with square and strip bricks. It is surrounded by cloisters, double eaves, nine ridges, veranda style structure, glazed tile ridge, green tile roof, palace style, double eaves and high peck. The main hall is built on the stone platform. The columns and beams in the hall are of the central column type, and the eaves and brackets are of one or two types. There is a platform in front of the hall, surrounded by stone railings and pillar, and the pillar head is decorated with stone lion statues, a total of 99. The four corners of the platform are decorated with four heads.

Feishidian site

Feishi hall was built in the Ming Dynasty. It is said that it was built to commemorate the meteorite falling in Quyang. It was destroyed in the fire in 1909. According to the observation of the Feishi hall site, the original building is five rooms wide and three rooms deep. It is located on a 1.3-meter high platform, covering an area of 425 square meters. Now there are only remnant steles, pedestal and pillar base stones. There are four pillar base stones with lotus petal pattern, which is the style of the Ming Dynasty. It can be seen from the more than one meter high platform, as well as the remnant stele, pedestal and plinth on the platform that the Feishi hall is the second largest building in Beiyue temple, only next to the hall of Dening.

Yuxiang Pavilion

Yuxiang Pavilion, also known as Jingyi Pavilion, is a pure wooden structure with triple eaves, three drops of water, eight corners and a sharp top in Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty,

It is octagonal in plane, with three-story eaves, tile roof, glazed ridge, eight inner and outer eaves columns, and four side gates. The platform base is 1.5 meters high. It was rebuilt and well preserved after the founding of the people's Republic of China.

Yuxiang Pavilion is the place where the emperor changed his clothes before the sacrificial ceremony, so it is also called dressing Pavilion. There used to be a stone censer in the middle of the pavilion. On the day of the emperor's sacrifice, someone would light the pine branches, sandalwood, etc. scattered in the furnace early to make the cigarettes burn around. After bathing and changing clothes, the emperor led the civil and military officials to kneel down, and personally lit three fragrant pillars to thank the gods.

Lingxiao gate

Lingxiao gate, the third gate of Beiyue temple, was built in the Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty. It was rebuilt in 1987. It has a single eaves and a hard top. It is three rooms wide and two rooms deep. In front of the gate, there is an eight character screen wall.

Sanshanmen

Sanshan gate, the fourth gate of Beiyue temple, was built in the Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty. It was originally the Sanlian gate and was later rebuilt. It was rebuilt in 1986. Single eaves hanging on the top of the mountain, five wide, three deep.

Cultural relics

overview

There are many cultural relics in Beiyue temple, such as inscriptions, stone carvings, scriptures, murals and so on.

inscriptions on a tablet

Beiyue temple has more than 200 steles, steles and scriptures, as well as stele corridors and stele towers. It is one of the largest stele groups in Hebei Province. The contents of the inscriptions are mostly the records of the rebuilding of Beiyue temple and the sacrificial rites for the God of Beiyue. In terms of the art of calligraphy, Zhen, Cao, Li, Zhuan and Xingshu are all available. The earliest inscriptions were made in 462, the third year of peace in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Others include "the stele of Hengshan spirit temple in Dingzhou, Tang Dynasty", "the stele of Beiyue temple in Tang Dynasty", "the stele of Beiyue God in Tang Dynasty", "the stele of anwang temple in Beiyue rebuilt in Song Dynasty", "the stele of Beiyue Temple rebuilt in Song Dynasty", "the stele of Su Shi's poetry", "the stele of dayuanfeng and Beiyue Shouzhao".

On the east side of the feishidian site, there is a stele of "feishidian site" written by fan Xianke of Zhejiang Province in 1555. On the west side, there is a stele of "feishidian site" written by the governor of Quyang County and Li Jingzheng of Shenyang in 1942.

mural

The most spectacular part of Beiyue temple is the frescoes in the hall of Dening. There are tall frescoes on the East and west walls of the hall, 6.5 meters high and 17.6 meters long. There is the "palace of heaven" painted by Wu Daozi, the painting saint of Tang Dynasty. Behind the north mountain wall, there is a huge color fresco "the tour of Hengshan God of Beiyue". The frescoes are 8 meters high and 27 meters long. The frescoes on the East and west sides are 8 meters high and 18 meters long respectively. The total area of the frescoes is 504 square meters. Contents of the mural: the East mural is yunxingyushi, which depicts the images of numerous gods and earthly gods, who make clouds and rain and bring rain to the people. The largest figure is as high as 3.3 meters; the West mural is wanguoxianning, which depicts the scene of the gods returning to the palace after they finish the task of making clouds and rain. The God of the west wall (Zhong Kui) is the essence of the whole frescoes. The muscles are rough, the looks are grim, the guns are crossed, and the sky is flying. There are 73 characters in the two murals, and many of them are the same.

stone carving

The stone sculptures in Beiyue temple include Buddha statues, figures, animals and Scripture buildings, especially the stone tiger of Western Han Dynasty, stone lion of Northern Wei Dynasty, backlit thousand Buddha statues of Northern Wei Dynasty, stone lamp of Tang Dynasty, stone Buddha of Tang Dynasty, laughing monk and Scripture buildings of Jin Dynasty. The knife work changes delicately and the lines are clear and smooth.

other

There is a museum in Beiyue temple. The architectural style is classical quadrangle. There are three exhibition rooms including bronze pottery, Ding kiln porcelain and stone sculptures. More than 200 pieces of cultural relics are on display. Couplets inscribed by famous calligraphers are engraved on the door pillars of the museum.

Under the eaves of the hall of Dening, a plaque of "the hall of Dening" written by Kublai Khan, the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, was hung.

History and culture

The origin of Beiyue

From the Western Han Dynasty to the early Jin, yuan and Ming Dynasties, Hengshan, the northern mountain, is clearly recorded in the historical records. Its main peak is Damao mountain, also known as Shenxian mountain (in the northeast of Fuping County and the northwest of Tang County in Hebei Province). In the late Ming Dynasty, Xuanwu mountain in Hunyuan was renamed Hengshan.

Beiyue is one of the five famous mountains in China. According to the research of historians, the system of five mountains began with Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty and Emperor Xuan of Han Dynasty

Chinese PinYin : Bei Yue Miao