West Castle

West castle is located in the famous historical and cultural town warm spring town, it is a typical "castle in castle". The West castle was built in the Jin Dynasty. There is an urn at the gate of the castle. It was built in the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty and rebuilt in the late Qing Dynasty. It is one of the most well preserved ancient village forts in China. In 2003, it was named "the hometown of ancient folk customs" by Hebei Association for democracy and people's livelihood. The ancient castle and the ancient theaters, temples and houses are all in one size, but the design is very ingenious. It can be called the essence of the castle, and has a strong architectural style of Ming and Qing dwellings. The layout of the Western Castle urn is flexible, the structure is rigorous and complex, the height of the palace is uneven, the buildings are covered, the architectural scenery is set, the borrowed scenery is set, and the hidden scenery is set, which fully shows the superb artistic design level of the craftsmen at that time.

West Castle

West castle, Ming and Qing Dynasty castle building. It is located in Nuanquan Town, Yuxian County, Hebei Province, 2 kilometers east of the boundary between Hebei and Shanxi. The ancient castle integrates the ancient castle with the ancient theater, temple and house. It was built in the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty (1522-1566) and continued to be built in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. It is the most unique and well preserved one of the "eight hundred fortresses" in ancient Yuzhou. The shape and structure of the ancient castle and urn city is unique, with ancient style houses and courtyards, showing the architectural style of Ming and Qing Dynasties.

In 2006, the West castle in Yuxian County, Hebei Province, was announced as a key cultural relic protection unit by the State Council.

Architectural features

The castle was built in Jiajing period in the middle of Ming Dynasty. When it was first built, there was only one South Gate (the north gate was not built in Ming Dynasty). During Shunzhi period in the early Qing Dynasty, the north gate was built, and two urn cities were added to the north and South gates. The layout of the castle wall is square, with a side length of more than 230 meters. It is rammed with loess and protrudes out of the wall

It is about 8 meters high. The inner gates of the two urn cities face each other from north to south, forming a main street and three small streets in the East and West. There is a "gengdao" around the wall of the fort. This formed the special shape of the general layout of xigubao village in the shape of "state". It is a unique example of the 800 castles in ancient Yuzhou.

There are about 180 ancient residential courtyards in the village. Tall gatehouse, exquisite brick, wood carving, flower painting, nine links, four in and four out of the courtyard all tell the prosperity of that year. Most of these dwellings are of brick and wood structure, with green strips and footstones, grey brick walls, ridged roofs, and green tiles. The local folk customs are simple, and the surrounding environment is beautiful. Standing at the gate of the fort, you can look up and see. Surrounded by paddy fields, the village is green and green, and the village is full of green bricks and gray tiles. The whole west Castle Village, every street and every piece of folk house, is still elegant despite a hundred years of wind and rain. It basically retains the historical features of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The buildings in the north and South urn cities are of various forms and ingenious layout. The exquisite craft reflects the superb skills of ancient folk architecture. The inner gates of the two urn cities were built in the Ming Dynasty, while the outer gates and the buildings inside the urn cities were added in the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty.

The building of nanwengcheng is complex. The plane layout of the castle wall is square, about 100 meters long, rammed with loess, protruding from the earth surface, and more than 8 meters high. The buildings in the urn are divided into two parts: the upper part and the lower part. Most of the lower layer is brick coupon imitation wood structure building, the upper layer is brick wood structure building, the middle of the urn is a large patio type, surrounded by buildings, a total of 74 halls and pavilions. From the brick steps in the northeast corner of the urn City, you can enter the corner gate. After entering the gate, you will cross the courtyard in the East. The courtyard is decorated with square bricks, and the front brick wall is decorated with flowers. A roll shed top music building is located 50 meters south of the ground floor, and there are two ear rooms on each side. It is also a special example of many theater buildings in Yuxian County. Ma Wang Temple is in the northeast and Sanyi hall is in the West. There are three rooms in the East lower room. The lower level is a small courtyard with brick walls and a brick door in the south. In the upper part, the bricks imitate the eaves of wood, and five steps on Dougong. The brick carvings are gorgeous and exquisite. The main house is a Dougong structure house.

In the west of the courtyard, the lower part is the entrance of the Gongquan gate. The plane is in the shape of "Ya", which is the axis of the main street of the castle. On the top of the gate is the Guanyin hall. On the top of the gate is the hard mountain buwa roof. In the north, there is a building. On the East and west sides of the building, there is the second floor of the bell and Drum Tower on the top of the mountain. The East and west of the building are alleys. On the west side of Guanyin hall stands out a small brick city. The upper and lower floors are connected by a shaft in the northeast corner. There is a small rectangular patio in the middle. The upper layer is surrounded by buildings, with parapets built in front of it. All of them are of the corridor type at the corner of the hard mountain top, with vertical lattice windows. In the north is the dizang hall, in the East and West are the ten halls, and in the south is the ghost King hall. The East and west of Guiwang hall is the bell and Drum Tower on the top of the mountain, and the bottom is the gate hole of Gongquan and two wooden doors of Xuan. In the lower part of the courtyard, there are Gongquan caves in the East, West and North. Outside the cave, the bricks imitate the eaves of wood, and the bricks carve rafters, flying and Dougong. On the south side of the patio is a small courtyard, with East and West monks and wing rooms. A large screen wall is embedded in the wall of the South Fort of the gate, and two flat dragons are carved in the center of the wall. The dragon is vigorous, vigorous, beautiful and vivid.

The east wall of the urn has a gate, which is made of brick and certificate. It is more than 8 meters high. A stone plaque is set on the outside of the gate. The regular script "West castle of Yongsheng gate" is engraved on the inside, and the small one "the 19th year of Kangxi" is engraved on the outside. The stone pavement inside the door is vividly left with traces of rutting in history. Outside the door, a brick carving is built face-to-face, and a shadow wall is built in Xumi.

The plane shape and size of the North urn is roughly the same as that of the South urn, and the inner, outer and inner gates are well preserved. Some of the temples, such as Jiutian Pavilion, were destroyed in the early years.

artistic value

The layout of the Western Castle urn is flexible, the structure is rigorous and complex, the height of the palace is uneven, the buildings are covered, the architectural scenery is set, the borrowed scenery is set, and the hidden scenery is set, which fully shows the superb artistic design level of the craftsmen at that time.

Address: xigubao, Yuxian County, Hebei Province

Longitude: 114.43579

Latitude: 39.8038909

Tel: 0313-7220006; 0313-70

Tour time: half a day

Traffic information: 1. Self driving

Route 1: Take Beijing Tibet Expressway to Xuanhua County, turn to Xuanda expressway, turn to Beijing Zhangjiakou Expressway in the direction of Yuxian / Guangling, go to Yuxian exit, get off the expressway, go west along Xiaguang line, 14 km away from Yuxian County to Nuanquan ancient town;

Route 2: take g109 from Mentougou, Beijing to xihehe Town, Yuxian County, Zhangjiakou, then turn down the Guangzhou line to the west, 14 km away from Yuxian County, to Nuanquan ancient town;

2. Bus: Take Beijing as an example, there is no bus directly to Nuanquan; generally, you start from Liuliqiao and other long-distance bus stations in Beijing and take a bus to Yuxian County; then take a taxi or shuttle bus to Nuanquan ancient town; there is a bus directly to Nuanquan in Yuxian County

Ticket information: West Castle belongs to the joint ticket of ancient town, 80 yuan per person, including warm spring academy, West castle, agricultural culture exhibition hall, historical culture exhibition hall

Chinese PinYin : Xi Gu Bao