Ancient mosque

Ancient mosque

The ancient mosque is located in the east of the south section of Jiefang Road. The wooden archway stands in front of the street, dazzling in the tall modern buildings around. Mene Zhengshu "ancient mosque" was written by Wang Juemin, the magistrate of Taiyuan in 1645. The exact date of the mosque's construction is still difficult to determine. From the perspective of architectural style, it was built in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. This 600 year old mosque covers an area of 15000 square meters, with two or three hundred buildings on the ground, about 34000 square meters. In addition to the newly expanded crescent square in front of the temple and other services and self-supporting facilities, Xinhui ancient temple is second to none in terms of floor area, building scale, historical age, artistic value, etc.

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development history

Yuan Dynasty

It is said that at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the son of prime minister Tuotuo led a fleet to transport the building materials of Yuandu from the south to Hebei. When the fleet arrived at Botou, the regime of the Yuan Dynasty had been overthrown. The soldiers and craftsmen of the Yuan Dynasty who escorted the fleet were homeless and lived in Botou. They followed the order of the Ming government and took the surname of Shi as their surname. Together with local Muslims, they used the stone and wood they carried to build mosques in 1404. After renovation in Wanli period, expansion in Chongzhen period, and renovation in Jiaqing period and Guangxu period, the mosque gradually formed today's grand scale.

The second year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty

The overall architectural form is traditional Chinese palace or temple style, but it strictly abides by the requirement that Islam does not worship any idols. There are "five back and six beasts" in the temple gate, the north and South lecture hall and the bunker building, but "like beasts but not beasts" and "have no eyes", which are actually the deformation of grain, melon and fruit. The gate of Xieshan mosque with a single eaves as high as 10 meters, together with the convenient doors on both sides, has a splayed gable extending to the left and right. There are two sides of shangmashi in front of the gate, and a 1.5-meter-high flagpole. With the red lacquer and copper riveting of the gate, the atmosphere is dignified.

During the war of Liberation

Before liberation, Botou mosque was the secret activity site of underground organizations of the Communist Party of China. The Party led mosque "civilian night school" and "worker night school" have trained many ethnic cadres. Most of the 25 imams recorded in Botou mosque have the fine tradition of loving the country and religion. Liu pin, a famous patriotic religious figure, once served here twice. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, the party's ethnic and religious policies have been well implemented. The government has allocated more than 1 million yuan, and the Muslim people have spontaneously raised more than 300000 yuan to repair the Botou mosque. The mosque has been listed as a key cultural relic protection unit in the whole province and the country, and has also been rated as one of the country's 100 model mosques. In 2005, the people's Government of Hebei Province allocated 7 million yuan for the comprehensive maintenance of Botou mosque. We believe that after the completion of the two-year renovation, this ancient mosque will appear in front of Chinese and foreign Muslims with a new look.

Structural layout

front gate

Entering the main entrance of the mosque is the first courtyard of the mosque. It is surrounded by Nanyi and Beiyi schools, Qianmen building and bunker building. Bunker building is 20 meters high, with stone carved brackets and two-story sharp corners. The upper hall, the front and the gate, the back and the main hall and the moon tower are in perfect harmony, which highlights the main position of bunker building. Through the bunk hall is the second courtyard. There are six auxiliary halls on both sides of the central axis, including the Huadian Pavilion, also known as the screen door, which has the architectural characteristics of the Ming Dynasty. The door is 4 meters high and supported by red pillars. It is elegant and elegant. Standing on the stone base, it has a high level of carving art. Passing through the Huadian Pavilion is the third courtyard, which is the main building part of the mosque, including the main hall, the North-South lecture hall, and the Danlong leading to the main hall. The white jade bridge under the Danlong leading to the North-South lecture hall is the only one seen in the mosque. In particular, it is worth mentioning that in the main room of the North lecture hall, there is a peacock wood tea table, which is 4.3 meters long, 0.34 meters wide and 0.15 meters thick. Its wood is not eaten by insects and birds do not fall. It is also called white bird pine or MOA wood. It is said that the food, fish, etc. placed on the tea table will not be rancid or deteriorated for a week. It is said that this treasure of zhensi was awarded by Emperor Wanli of Ming Dynasty to Shi Sanwei, the imperial envoy of Botou Hui Imperial Academy. Shi Sanwei was transferred to the mosque and preserved until now, which is very precious.

audience hall

The main hall is the main building of the mosque. The main hall of Botou mosque is 29 meters wide and 55 meters long, with a construction area of 1593 square meters. The architectural form is basically the same as that of the ancient temples on both sides of the inland canal. Including Baoxia, it is divided into front rolling shed and back rolling shed, high in the middle and low in the front and back, with huge columns and square beams. There are 81 rooms, which are both spacious and deep, and can accommodate 1600 people. The cellar Hall of the main hall is even more unique. The whole cellar hall is a hexagonal pavilion of brick and wood structure. The plaque at the bottom of the pavilion is square with exquisite brick carvings. The six upright and thick columns support the hexagonal nine layered barrier caisson, and the column screen also has openwork decoration. The second floor of the six corner Pavilion is surrounded by glass windows, and the soft light illuminates the whole kiln hall. Looking up at the caisson from the ground, we can see that the caisson is closely linked, one layer is small, and the other layer is high. In addition, the colorful geometric patterns make the craft more exquisite and the builders have unique ingenuity. It is said that the caisson on the ninth floor of the six corner pavilion has no iron nails. It is all made of hardwood mortise and tenon. It has been built with the help of geometric principles. After 600 years of trials and hardships, it has not been broken or tilted. It's rare to use the six corner Pavilion as the moon tower. It's probably to take the meaning of Six Harmonies in the East, West, North and south. It can be said that Islam gradually adapts to Chinese society reflected in the architectural art of the mosque. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand the significance of the 18 square plaques hanging in front of the hall. In June of the 33rd year of Kangxi, the imperial edict protected the normal religious activities of Muslims, "Muslims in the world should keep their own halal, not against their orders, not against my grace.". Confucius' 75th generation grandson and hereditary sage Kong Xiangke's inscription of "halal and bright" is not enough to explain the integration of Yi and Ru, the interpretation of Confucian classics and religious harmony? Famous painter Xu Beihong, his wife Liao Jingwen and calligrapher Shen Peng also wrote and painted here, which enhanced the cultural connotation and artistic taste of the mosque.

gate

The gate of Botou mosque adopts the style of Meridian Gate of the Palace Museum in Beijing, with Shangma stone and vertical flagpole; in the Sanjin courtyard, there are Zhengbu stone, Zhengguan stone and Jingbu stone. A mosque has a solemn religious atmosphere and an official style from the outside to the inside. It skillfully integrates the heterogeneous Islamic culture into the Chinese palace architectural form and becomes a model of the combination of Chinese and Arabic cultures. In 1963, Professor Liu Zhiping, a famous architect, personally led people to survey and study the temple. Today, under the guidance of the party's ethnic and religious policies, the architectural treasure of the mosque has been well maintained and protected. More importantly, it reflects the party and government's attention to ethnic and religious work, further strengthens ethnic unity, and plays a greater unique role in realizing religious harmony and building a socialist harmonious society.

Cultural Activity

In addition, there are three major festivals every year, namely, Eid al Fitr, Eid al AdhA and holy Ji Festival. In these festivals, Muslim tourists can bathe, dress up, hold ceremonies, chant scriptures, praise saints, and congratulate each other. It is a grand gathering to accept doctrines and promote friendship and unity.

Address: intersection of Suzhou street and Danling Street

Longitude: 116.305674

Latitude: 39.978895

Chinese PinYin : Qing Zhen Gu Si