Hongfo pagoda

Hongfo pagoda

Hongfo pagoda is located in an abandoned temple in the south of group 4, Hongxing Village, Jingui Town, Helan County, more than 20 kilometers away from Yinchuan. This is a brick three-story octagonal pavilion type and covered bowl type composite building. Its unique shape and simple style make it a rare ancient pagoda in China. It was first built in the late Xixia (1190-1227). The hongfo pagoda is seriously damaged due to the disrepair, earthquake, rising groundwater level, wind and rain.

brief introduction

Hongfo pagoda, commonly known as "Wangcheng pagoda", is located in an abandoned temple in Wangcheng village, Panchang Township, Helan County, Ningxia (now group 4, Hongxing Village, Jingui Town, Helan county), with a remnant height of 28.34 meters. Due to years of disrepair, serious damage. In 1990, with the approval of the State Administration of cultural relics, it was repaired according to the plan of demolition and reconstruction.

Hongfo pagoda is located in Panhu Township, northeast of Helan county. It is a hollow brick tower with dense eaves and thick walls. The height of the tower body and the tower brake is similar, and the height is about 25 meters. The tower has three floors and is octagonal in plane. On the south side of the first floor, there is a 2.4-meter-high ticket door with brick dragon and phoenix patterns carved on both sides of the top of the lintel. There are double eaves on each floor of the tower, and two groups of Dougong are carved under the eaves. Above the tower is the Tasha. From the analysis of the architectural style of the tower, it may be built before the Ming Dynasty. The tower is 28.34 meters high and is built on the foundation rammed with loess. The first to third floors of hongfo pagoda are Pavilion style pagodas, on which there is a huge brick pagoda covered with bowls. It is a composite hollow brick pagoda combining traditional Chinese Pavilion style architecture with Lama pagoda. The upper parts of each layer of the pagoda are built with brick eaves of lane, Dougong and diese brick pagoda, with flat balustrade on the eaves and cross folded angle pagoda covered with bowls on the top. It is composed of tower base, tower body and tower brake. At the bottom of the tower is a round waist type Xumi seat, on which a shoulder bowl tower is built. The tower body is in the shape of a treasure pot, with a brake seat and two layers of wheels. It is supported by an Asian shaped brake seat for thirty-three days. The ventricles of the pagoda are upward and inward. The chamber of the tower is octagonal.

When the hongfo pagoda was demolished, a large number of Xixia cultural relics were found inside. There are 14 painted silk paintings, dozens of painted clay Buddhist statues and a large number of fragments, painted wood Bodhisattvas and female prostitutes, and more than 2000 Xixia wood carving plates. In addition, there are small wooden pagodas, wooden slips, Xixia cultural relics, porcelain bowls, porcelain beads, architectural structures, etc.

history

It is a rare ancient pagoda in China. According to the unearthed cultural relics, the hongfo pagoda was built in the late Xixia period, more than 800 years ago. Now it is managed by special personnel from the cultural relics department of Helan County, and many tourists go to it every year.

In 1987, the office of Ningxia cultural relics management committee organized forces to invite domestic ancient architecture experts to conduct field investigation and draw up maintenance plans. At the beginning of 1990, the maintenance plan of the pagoda was submitted to the State Administration of cultural relics for approval, and the State Administration of cultural relics invested nearly one million yuan to repair the hongfo pagoda from June of the same year to October 1991 according to the plan of dismantling and rebuilding.

During the restoration of the pagoda which was on the verge of collapse, a large number of decaying Xixia cultural relics were unearthed in chazuotang palace. They were rated as one of the top ten new archaeological discoveries in 1990 by China Heritage daily, experts and scholars of cultural relics and archaeology. At the same time, famous experts of cultural relics protection and restoration were employed to rescue and repair these decaying cultural relics.

characteristic

One of the biggest characteristics of hongfo pagoda is that the height of the pagoda body and the Tasha is roughly equal, which is a unique structure among many pagodas in Ningxia. The tower is about 25 meters high, with three layers and an octagonal jade surface. The first floor is 4 meters high, and there is a ticket door in the south. The door is 2.4 meters high and 0.95 meters wide. On both sides of the lintel, there are brick carvings of dragons, phoenixes, flowers and birds, which are lifelike. There are three eaves on each floor of the tower, and the upper and lower eaves are overlapped. The lower eaves are overlapped with 12 layers of toothed bricks, about 1 meter out of the eaves. Each side of the eaves is decorated with two groups of thick brick arches. The corner of the tower edge is decorated with a group of arches, all of which are made of one bucket and three liters of imitation wood. On the top of the arch at the corner of the overhanging eaves, there is a wooden handle hanging wind chimes. Unfortunately, it is decayed. There are three layers of brick on the upper eaves, and the eaves are short. At each corner of the eaves and the tower edge, there are a bucket of brick arches. On top of the three-layer tower body, a tower brake is installed. The tower brake is composed of a brake seat, a brake body and a brake top. Its structure is similar to a large Lama tower brake. The plane of the brake seat is in the form of a cross with two corners folded inward, and it shrinks upward step by step. The brake body is in the shape of a bottle (or a bowl), and it is decorated with a triple phase wheel. The top of the brake is a peach shaped cusp, and most of the south side has collapsed. The tower room is thick walled and hollow, with a wall thickness of 3 meters. It is said that in the ground center of the tower room, there was a well with clear and sweet water, which was sprayed continuously all the year round. It was specially for the monks and pilgrims of the pagoda temple to drink.

unearthed relic

Hongfo pagoda cultural relics include: Xixia silk colored Buddha painting, 18 painted Buddha statues, Luohan, Lishi face statues and body statues; Xixia Buddhist Scripture engraving There are more than 200 pieces; there are nearly 100 pieces of streamers, wood carvings, wooden slips, glass and so on. Among them, the silk color paintings "Chi Sheng Guang Buddha", "Xuanwu emperor" and painted Buddha are the masterpieces of the court artists, and they are also the exquisite works of Buddhist works of the same theme that have been found in China. They provide a systematic physical specimen for the study of Xixia Buddhist culture, art history and printing history, and have a very important historical significance The value of art and scientific research.

Xixia painted sculpture, using traditional clay sculpture and painted makeup, uses clay sculpture techniques such as pinch, plastic, paste, press, cut and carve to create a concise shape, and then uses painting techniques such as dot, dye, brush, paint and depiction to paint color, embellish the details of the cortex and reflect the texture. It is a vivid work of "plastic appearance and painting quality". There are some Xixia painted sculptures preserved in the Grottoes in Hexi area, but they were repaired by powder painting during the yuan and Ming Dynasties. This batch of painted sculptures unearthed from hongfo pagoda Tiangong completely retain the original style of Xixia period, which is very precious.

Twelve coins of the Song Dynasty (three Jihuang song Tongbao, three Xining Yuanbao, one Taiping Tongbao, one Shaosheng Tongbao, one Tianxi Tongbao, one Tiansheng Tongbao, one Yuanfeng Tongbao and one Xiangfu Tongbao) were found on the 135th layer of brickwork in the northeast corner of the eaves of the third Pavilion style tower, three song Coins (one Zhiping Yuanbao, one Shaosheng Yuanbao and one Jingyou Yuanbao) were found on the 135th layer of brickwork in the south of the eaves, and three song coins (one Zhiping Yuanbao, one Shaosheng Yuanbao and one Jingyou Yuanbao) were found on the 129th layer of brickwork There are two pieces of song coins (Xining Yuanbao, Zhenghe Tongbao each). The latest coins of the Song Dynasty scattered in the wall of the tower body were Zhenghe Tongbao, which was cast in 1111 ad.

value

The colored silk Buddha paintings collected in the temple of Buddha pagoda are fluent in lines and skillful in strokes, which have the characteristics of Tibetan Buddhism painting. The painted clay statues unearthed from the heavenly palace of hongfo pagoda are full and robust, which are extremely vivid and reach a high artistic level. The relics unearthed from hongfo pagoda are of great value to the study of Xixia studies, Buddhist art and ancient Chinese printing.

protect

The hongfo pagoda is seriously damaged due to the disrepair, earthquake, rising groundwater level, wind and rain. In 1987, the office of Ningxia cultural relics management committee organized forces to invite domestic ancient architecture experts to conduct field investigation and draw up maintenance plans. At the beginning of 1990, the maintenance plan of the pagoda was submitted to the State Administration of cultural relics for approval, and the State Administration of cultural relics invested nearly one million yuan to repair the hongfo pagoda from June of the same year to October 1991 according to the plan of dismantling and rebuilding.

The hongfo pagoda was built directly on the rammed foundation without a large xumizuo. It was made of grooved bricks and striped bricks imitating Liao Dynasty. Besides, it had the unique palmprint brick of Xixia Dynasty, which was the only one in the existing Song Liao pagodas in China. In Jiajing Ningxia Xinzhi, there is a record of "Three Pagodas Lake" located 30 Li northeast of the city. Its location is similar to that of hongfo pagoda, which indicates that there were three pagodas here in Ming Dynasty. According to the unearthed cultural relics, the temple where hongfo pagoda was once a royal temple of high level. It's probably the Dadu Temple of Xixia that Mr. Shi Jinbo researched.

In 1987, when the cultural relics administration committee of Ningxia Autonomous Region and the office of cultural administration of Helan County repaired the hongfo pagoda, a large number of Tangka Buddha statues, clay sculptures, painted Buddha statues, wood carved Buddha statues, wooden pagodas, Xixia Scripture editions and other precious cultural relics were unearthed from the Tiangong of the pagoda, which proved that the pagoda was built in the late Xixia period (1180-1190) About 800 years ago, it was repaired in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Today, hongfo pagoda is managed by the cultural relics department of Helan County, receiving tourists.

Notes on the discovery and rescue of Xixia treasures in hongfo pagoda

Located in the suburb of wangchengbao village, Panchang Township, Helan County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the remnant pagoda, commonly known as "wangchengbao pagoda", is unknown to all walks of life because of the collapse of the temple and its distance from the suburban road. In 1984, when the general survey of cultural relics was conducted, its name was known as hongfo pagoda. It was registered by the cultural relics department and announced as a key cultural relics protection unit in the autonomous region.

In order to rescue key cultural relics and historic sites, the administrative department of cultural relics of the autonomous region has successively invited famous domestic ancient building repair experts Qi Yingtao, Yu Luoyun, Yang lie and Jiang huaiying to Nanjing for consultation and investigation. When guiding and assisting in formulating the plan and construction scheme for the rescue and maintenance of ancient buildings, we accompanied us to carry out a careful investigation on the ancient pagoda with a residual height of 28.29 meters. We agreed that the lower three floors of the pagoda The octagonal pavilion masonry with overlapping eaves, combined with a complete cross angle corset and bowl masonry in the upper part, is a complex building with unique shape, hollow tower body, painted exterior and simple style. It is the only existing ancient tower in China, which is precious. Tilt splitting and local deformation caused by tower sinking

Chinese PinYin : Hong Fo Ta