iron tower

iron tower

Located in the eastern half of Beimen Street Tower Park, Kaifeng City, Henan Province, the tower is an important cultural relic and a major scenic spot in the park. It was built in 1049 ad (the first year of emperor you of the Northern Song Dynasty). It is one of the first batch of national key protected cultural relics announced in 1961, known as "the first tower in the world". The tower is 55.88 meters high and has 13 stories. Therefore, it was once called Kaibao temple, also known as "Kaibao temple tower". It is also known as "iron tower" since Yuan Dynasty because it is covered with brown glazed bricks and looks like cast iron

In more than 900 years, it has experienced 37 earthquakes, 18 gales and 15 floods, and stands tall.

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Historical evolution

According to historical records, the predecessor of Kaifeng iron tower is a wooden tower, which is located in Fusheng courtyard of Kaibao temple. It was built in the seventh year of Taiping Xingguo, or 982 ad. it was built in the second year of Duangong of Taizong of Song Dynasty, which is called Fusheng tower. In the sixth year of Dazhong Xiangfu of Taizong of Song Dynasty, "there is a golden light coming out of Xianglun, the car is lucky, the relic is visible, because of the name of inspiration tower", which was used by Taizong of Song Dynasty to offer tribute to King Ashoka of Wuyue It's used by Buddhist houses.

The construction of the iron tower began in 1049, the first year of emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, but there is no exact record of when it was completed. This is a big mystery in the history of the iron tower. According to the research of Professor Wei Qianzhi of Henan University, in 1071, Wang Gu wrote a book "Beidao publishes wrong records", which has a lot of records about the famous places of the capital (Kaifeng), but only keeps silent about Kaibao Temple Pagoda.

In October 1072, the fifth year of Shenzong Xining in the Northern Song Dynasty, Cheng Xun, a Japanese monk, visited the Fusheng Temple of Kaibao temple. He described the scene at that time and said that the Buddhist relics originally hidden under the inspiration wooden tower were now "housed" in a small hall. The purpose of building the pagoda is to collect the relic, which is placed in the "small hall". It shows that the new tower has not been built yet. According to Professor Wei Qianzhi's examination of climbing on the tower, the year of the fourth year of Zhiping (1067, the last year of Yingzong's reign) appeared on the third layer of the tower, and the glazed brick with the words "Xining" (the first year of Shenzong) was found on the top of the tower. Referring to the relevant records in the records of Wutai Mountain in the towering terrace by the Japanese monk Chengxun, it shows that the final completion time of the iron tower was probably in the later period of the Xining reign of Shenzong, that is, between 1073 and 1077.

From the construction to the completion of the tower, it took nearly 30 years. However, this is only the opinion of Professor Wei Qianzhi. The exact completion time of the tower still needs to be solved by scholars.

During the Five Dynasties of song, Jin, yuan, Ming and Qing and the long years of the Republic of China, they suffered 43 earthquakes, 10 hail, 19 wind disasters, 6 River disasters and 17 rain disasters, during which they were repaired several times. In the 29th year of Hongwu (1396) of the Ming Dynasty, the king of Zhou rebuilt the pagoda. There were 48 yellow glazed Amitabha Buddha inlaid in the pagoda, and the inscriptions on both sides were enough to prove it.

In the 33rd year of Jiajing reign (1554), the king of Zhou added another one, which was proved by the inscriptions. According to the research of Guan Baiyi (who wrote "the iron tower" and long Feile (who wrote "the investigation of the iron tower"), on the surface of several layers of glazed tiles on the tower, it was found that there were three kinds of objects: Zhongxia in the 29th year of Hongwu, December in the 7th year of Zhengde (1512), June in the 8th year of Jiajing (1529), December in the 32nd year of Jiajing (1553), March and June in the 33rd year of Jiajing (1554) In the fifth year of Wanli (1577), April and may; in the sixth year of Wanli (1578), April; in the eighteenth year of Wanli (1590), November; in the 38th year of Qianlong (1773), Xia April.

After the founding of the people's Republic of China, when the iron tower was rebuilt in 1957, it was found that the stone carvings of the seventh year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1668) were embedded on the rock under the copper jewels on the top of the tower, which can prove the fact that the iron tower was rebuilt or added in these years, of which the most important one was in the 29th year of Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty (1396). In addition, in 1921, Ding Kangbao, the governor of Kaifeng County, was ordered by his mother to make up for it. In 1934, Henan Buddhist College raised money to make up for it.

On June 5, 1938, the Japanese invaders launched a fierce artillery attack on the tower. The tower was shot seven or eighty times. The north side of the tower was covered with bruises. The eighth and ninth floors were punched through the outer wall, leaving two 2-meter-large deep holes. The tower was permeated with Kaifeng people's iron, standing like an unyielding soldier in the ancient city.

In July 1953, the Provincial Bureau of cultural relics listed the maintenance of the iron tower as a key renovation project in central and southern China.

In 1954, engineers and archaeologists were organized to conduct a comprehensive survey and design of the tower.

In 1956, an iron tower repair Committee was set up, which was composed of Tian Yanshou, an engineer of the Construction Department of the municipal government, and the central Ministry of culture and the Provincial Planning Committee allocated 210000 yuan for the repair. Based on the principle of "repair the old as before", the repair plan was formulated.

The construction began on June 11, 1957, and was completed by the end of October. At the same time, 104 cast iron wind bells have been installed, and iron bars and lightning rods have been added. The Millennium pagoda is presented to the world with a new look.

Style layout

Design style

Among the brick towers of Song Dynasty in Henan Province, the iron tower is also an outstanding representative. This is not because of its expensive building materials and luxurious appearance, but because of its strong and powerful artistic style, which is the highest glass tower in China. However, its absolute height is not very prominent among all the pagodas in China. It is lower than the Hebei Liaodi pagoda (84 meters) and Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, which are similar in age. But the tower gives people the impression that it is so tall, like a giant pillar standing in the ancient capital Kaifeng.

From the shape to the tone, there is a deep temperament of cast iron and bronze. The song Pagoda in Henan Province has a common architectural feature, that is, the outer contour line is relatively straight, which is different from the soft parabolic curve of Tang Pagoda in Henan Province (such as Fawang Temple Pagoda) before Song Dynasty and gold Pagoda in Henan Province (such as Qiyun Pagoda in Baima Temple) at the same time in Song Dynasty. However, there are many brick towers in Song Dynasty (such as the song tower in Yanling and other places) whose upper layers are collected too quickly, resulting in a sudden sharp cone shape and poor artistic effect. The Kaifeng tower does not have this feeling, the proportion of the top and bottom scores is harmonious and natural, much like the proportion of people's poor vision. Through field investigation, it is found that the bucket arches of each layer of the tower have the same specifications, and the width of each layer mainly depends on the adjustment and change of the number of eaves and flat seat bucket arches. In addition to the bucket arches on the capitals, there is a gradual process for the filling of the bucket arches on all sides. From bottom to top, the number of complementary spaces between eaves Dougong and flat seat Dougong is: one floor (six and six), two floors (six and five), three floors (five and five), four floors (five and five), five floors (five and five), six floors (five and five), seven floors (four and four), eight floors (four and four), nine floors (three and three), ten floors (three and three), eleven floors (three and four), twelve floors (three and zero) thirteen Layers (two and zero). The total height of the tower is about five to one compared with the diameter of its lower bottom plane.

Structural layout

periphery

"Jieyin hall" is in front of the iron tower. It is made of imitation white marble. It is a three door archway style Song Dynasty building. It is 70 meters wide and 12 meters high. On the left and right walls of the gate, eight solemn, solemn and holy statues of the blue stone Buddha are symmetrically inlaid. It was built in 1986 to worship the "Jieyin Buddha", a cultural relic of the Northern Song Dynasty. In front of the hall, stone lions are majestic and the tripod is fragrant. Around the hall, 24 pillars hold the hall. The platform of the hall is protected by bluestone railings and surrounded by 96 interesting little lions. Next to the reception hall is the inspiration hall. The inspiration Institute was built for the white jade Buddha statue. The white jade Buddha statue of Sakyamuni in the main hall was donated by overseas Chinese living in Myanmar in 1933. The Buddha statue, about 1 meter high, is carved from the whole piece of white jade. It is beautiful, dignified, crystal clear and bright. It can be called a good product.

Tower body

The tower is equilateral octagonal, with 13 floors, 55.88 meters in height, and 4.16 meters in width on each side of the bottom floor. There are more than 50 patterns of flying sky, Kirin, Bodhisattva, Yueji, lion and so on

. On the top is a gourd like copper pearl. From a distance, it looks like a monk wearing a solemn hat. The window design of the tower body is also very unique. There are two kinds of open windows and blind windows. There is one open window on each floor. The first floor is in the north, the second floor is in the south, the third floor is in the west, the fourth floor is in the East, and so on. The so-called blind window is actually a window model that can't be opened.

The body of the tower is octagonal, with 13 storeys. It is of pavilion type. The base and 8-edge square pool are buried underground due to the flooding of the Yellow River. It is now 55.08 meters high. The outer wall of the tower is made of 28 kinds of moulded glass carved bricks with imitation wood structure. There are more than 50 kinds of patterns on the bricks, such as flying sky, five monks, Bodhisattva, unicorn, dragon subduing, Jile, baoxianghua, etc. The other three doors are all 8-jiao Xiaobao. Windows on each floor above the second floor are available to view. The internal and external walls are closely connected, and the structure is strong, forming a strong anti-seismic body. For thousands of years, it has been damaged by many floods, earthquakes, storms, shelling and so on, and still stands firm. The whole shape is beautiful and elegant

Chinese PinYin : Tie Ta