Two tombs of the Southern Tang Dynasty

Two tombs of the Southern Tang Dynasty

Located at the southern foot of Zutang mountain, Jiangning District, Nanjing City, the two tombs of the Southern Tang Dynasty, including the Qin Mausoleum of Li Min and his Empress and the Shun Mausoleum of Li Jing and his Empress Zhong, are the largest mausoleums of emperors in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It was excavated by Nanjing Museum from 1950 to 1951 and listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit in 1988. The two mausoleums of the Southern Tang Dynasty are surrounded by hills and Fu. They are in a good situation. They are designed by Jiang Wenwei and Han Xizai of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Qin mausoleum in the East and Shun mausoleum in the West are brick multi chambered tombs, which were excavated many times in the early years, but the mausoleum building is complete. The former is engraved with gold, indicating the name of the mausoleum and the date of burial. The latter has hundreds of male and female palace attendants, dance figurines and various animal figurines, which are rare in Southern Tang and song tombs.

There are more than 600 cultural relics unearthed from the two tombs of the Southern Tang Dynasty, among which jade mourning volumes and pottery figurines are particularly precious. The book of jade mourning records the sacrificial rites of the feudal emperors and empresses, which is also the main basis for determining the identity of the tomb owner. It provides important material materials for the study of the emperor's funeral system in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

Brief introduction of Mausoleum

Qinling mausoleum is the mausoleum of Bian, the former leader of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the Five Dynasties. It is located at the south foot of Zutang in the southern suburb of Nanjing. Qinling mausoleum was built in 943, the first year of Baoda in the Southern Tang Dynasty. The diameter of the mound is about 30 meters and the height is about 5 meters. It is 21.48 meters long, 10.45 meters wide and 5.3 meters high. There are anterior, middle and posterior chambers, 5 on each side, and the plane is rectangular.

The front room is 4.50 meters long and 3.85 meters wide, the middle room is 4.56 meters long and 4.45 meters wide, and the back room is 6.03 meters long and 5.90 meters wide, all of which are brick, stone and wood like structures. The front and middle rooms are built with blue bricks, and the back room is built with blue stones, with dome structure. In the middle of the north wall of the middle room, there are blue stone banners and relief dragons playing with pearls on the top. On the left and right column walls below, there are stone relief warriors with feet stepping on auspicious clouds and wearing armor and holding swords. They are dignified in appearance, lifelike in expression and daunting. The original images were painted with gold. The walls of the tomb gate and the three main chambers are decorated with chiseled leaning columns, brackets, upright beams, Dougong, etc. they are plastered with mud, painted with lime, and painted with color paintings. The colors of the paintings are vermilion, red yellow, ochre, stone green and so on, and the fine brushwork is used to depict the flower patterns such as twining peony, Baoxiang flower, sea pomegranate flower, persimmon pedicle pattern and upside down lotus pattern. The top of the back room is painted with a colorful sky map. Carved on the stone slab on the ground is a shallow channel symbolizing the winding of the river. In the middle, there are six stone slabs to form the coffin bed. Eight dragon dances are embossed on the side of the coffin bed, and the sea pomegranate pattern is carved.

Layout structure

The underground palace of Qinling mausoleum is 21 meters long and divided into three parts. There are three main rooms in the middle passage and 10 side rooms on both sides. The first two are brick and wood like structures, while the last two are green stone buildings with the largest scale. On the lintel of the stone gate, there are two dragons playing with pearls. Although the warriors on both sides of the gate are covered in armor and helmets, they are too fat and lazy. When these reliefs were first unearthed, the gold painted paintings were still shining. The stone coffin is surrounded by relief dragon patterns, which is the place where the coffins of the former Lord and empress song were placed. The top of the tomb is painted with the sun, moon and stars, and the ground is carved with rivers and earth.

Shunling mausoleum was built in 961, the second year of Jianling mausoleum in the Northern Song Dynasty, with a total length of 21.90 meters, a width of 10.12 meters and a height of 5.42 meters. The layout and structure are the same as those of Qin mausoleum. All are brick structure, no sky and river image, no stone relief and other decoration. Among the relics of the two mausoleums are jade tablets, pottery figurines of various palace figures, lacquer wood, copper and iron, and ceramics. The jade pieces of AI CE are the main basis to judge the owner of the tomb, and the ceramic pieces can be used as the specimens to study the porcelain of the Five Dynasties.

Shunling mausoleum is the mausoleum of Li Jing in the Southern Tang Dynasty. It is located about 100 meters to the west of Qinling mausoleum. The regulation of mausoleum is simple. Li Jing is quite talented in literature. His poems are gorgeous and graceful, such as "the dream of drizzle is far away from the chicken, and the small building blows through the cold of Yusheng". The second Mausoleum of the Southern Tang Dynasty was discovered in 1950. Because of its long history, the buildings on the ground no longer exist. Although the underground palace was excavated in the Song Dynasty, more than 600 precious cultural relics, such as pottery figurines, porcelain and jade elegy books, have been unearthed.

Mausoleum scale

The second Mausoleum of the Southern Tang Dynasty is the largest Mausoleum of emperors in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, including the "Qinling mausoleum" of Li Min and his wife song, and the "Shunling mausoleum" of Li Jing and his wife Zhong.

Both Qin mausoleum and Shun mausoleum were sealed with earth, and the tombs were round. Local people call it "Prince Dun". Shunling is located in the northwest of Qinling, more than 50 meters apart. Its north and West are connected with the foothills, and the uplift is not obvious. The original ground buildings of the two mausoleums have disappeared.

On the ground ruins of the mausoleum, exquisitely carved plinth stones were excavated. It can be seen that the ground buildings were magnificent at that time. The scale of the mausoleum is relatively large. There is a round mound on the top of the mausoleum, about 21.5 meters long, 10.5 meters wide and 5.3 meters high. The passage of the tomb is 19 meters long, and the chamber is divided into three main chambers and ten side chambers. The front and middle rooms are made of brick, and the back rooms are made of stone, all of which are wood like structures. On the wall of the tomb door and chamber, there are columns, Fang and Dou Gong, on which there are painted patterns. The top of the back room is painted with celestial phenomena, and mountains and rivers are carved on the blue stone slabs, symbolizing geography.

The Shunling mausoleum is 21.9 meters long, 10.1 meters wide and 5.4 meters high. It is also divided into three main rooms (front, middle and back) and eight side rooms. All of them are brick structures. Its architectural form is similar to that of the Qinling mausoleum, but its scale is slightly small.

Mausoleum appearance

In the period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Qinling Mausoleum of Li Min and his wife song in the Southern Tang Dynasty and the Shunling Mausoleum of Li Jing and his wife Zhong in the middle Tang Dynasty. It is located at the south foot of Zutang mountain, Jiangning District, Nanjing city. The two mausoleums are 50 meters apart. It was excavated in 1950-1951.

The mausoleum is 21.48 meters long and consists of three main rooms, the front, the middle and the back, and ten side rooms. The front and middle chambers are made of brick, and the back chambers are made of stone, all of which are of wood like structure. On the door and the wall of the tomb, columns, Fang and Dougong are chiseled, and there are color paintings on them. The top of the back room is painted with celestial phenomena, and the ground is carved with rivers symbolizing geography; the entrance is carved with double dragons playing with pearls, and on both sides of the door are stone statues of warriors with swords and armor. Shunling, 21.9 meters long, has three main rooms in the front, middle and back and eight side rooms, all of which are made of brick. The internal structure is simple. There is no sky, river, dragon and warrior stone carvings. There are about 600 pieces of cultural relics left over from the two mausoleums, including male and female pottery figurines, pottery gods and porcelain fragments. The fragments of the mourning volume provide a basis for determining the owner and the name of the tomb.

The two mausoleums were juxtaposed in the East and West, and were stolen and excavated many times in the early years. The excavation was organized by Nanjing Museum from 1950 to 1951, and the excavation report of the two tombs of the Southern Tang Dynasty was compiled by Zeng Zhaozhen. The second mausoleum inherits the basic characteristics of mausoleum architecture since Sui and Tang Dynasties, with regular layout, rigorous structure, and fine stone carvings and color paintings, which is of great value to the study of architecture, imperial mausoleum system and art in Tang and Song dynasties.

In 1988, the State Council of the people's Republic of China announced that the two tombs of the Southern Tang Dynasty were the key cultural relics under national protection. The two mausoleums of the Southern Tang Dynasty, namely, the mausoleum where Li Min and his Empress song were buried in 943, and the mausoleum where Li Jing and his Empress Zhong were buried in 961, are located at the southern foot of Zutang mountain in the southern suburb of Nanjing, about 25 kilometers away from Zhonghua Gate.

The two mausoleums are built close to the mountains, about 100 meters apart. They were designed by Jiang Wenwei and Han Xizai, ministers of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Qinling in the East and Shunling in the West. The two mausoleums are roughly the same in shape. On the plane, they are divided into three main chambers, the front, the middle and the back, with side chambers attached to the East and west of each chamber. There are 13 tombs in Qin mausoleum and 11 tombs in Shun mausoleum. The back room is the main body of the mausoleum, where coffins are placed. The decoration is very exquisite. The top of the back room of the mausoleum is painted with astronomical map, the underground is paved with bluestone, and the winding geographical map is engraved. In terms of structure, the first and second chambers of Qinling mausoleum are made of brick, the back chambers are made of stone, and Shunling mausoleum is made of brick. The surface of the gate and wall of the second mausoleum is imitated by the wooden architecture, which is made of columns and arches. The surface of these components is painted with bright colors, and the Qin mausoleum is decorated with stone relief. In the early years of the second mausoleum, more than 600 pieces of cultural relics were stolen. Among them, jade mourning volumes and pottery figurines are particularly precious.

Internal structure

There are three chambers in front, middle and back. The top and four sides of the chamber are made of blue bricks. There are short passages between the chambers. The coffin was placed in the middle room, and the decoration was exquisite.

The pillars of the central chamber and the East and West chambers of the Qinling mausoleum are decorated with lime. They are painted with gorgeous peony patterns, and the four walls are painted with vermilion. On the top of the north wall are also large relief statues of warriors with two dragons seizing pearls and wearing helmets, wearing thin armor, holding a long sword and stepping on Xiangyun. Today, there are still traces of gold painting on the statue. It can be seen that the underground palace was very luxurious.

Although the Shunling mausoleum is similar to the Qinling mausoleum in shape, the structural decoration and painting art in the tomb have lost the magnificent and magnificent spirit of the early Southern Tang Dynasty, which reflects the declining monarch's political career of "rolling pearls on jade hooks, swallowing hatred and locking the double tower according to the past, who is the Lord in the wind, thinking long".

Cultural relics protection

After the excavation of the second mausoleum, it was protected on the spot. It was repaired and reinforced in 1956. In 1962, a drainage channel was built under the tomb of the second mausoleum. Since 1981, the tombs have been repaired and reinforced, moisture-proof measures have been taken, the protection scope has been delimited, and the surrounding environment has been renovated.

In the cemetery area of the second Mausoleum of the Southern Tang Dynasty, trees were widely planted and auxiliary facilities such as mausoleum gate, stone bridge, stele Pavilion and exhibition room were built. In 1984, the two mausoleums of the Southern Tang Dynasty were established. In 1988, the Southern Tang Dynasty

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