Tianlongshan Grottoes

Tianlongshan grottoes, formerly known as Fangshan, have beautiful scenery. Historically, they were the summer palace of shanghuan, the emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty.

The surrounding mountains are undulating, with lush pines and cypresses, rippling springs in Longwang cave, and rippling streams in front of the mountain.

Tianlongshan grottoes are close to the laborer's life style with mature, full, refined skills and meticulous expression of feelings. It is characterized by strong nationality and locality, and is famous for its "small but excellent".

At present, some areas of the scenic spot are under maintenance, and the road up the mountain is rough, so self driving tourists should pay attention to safety.

Tianlongshan Grottoes

Tianlongshan grottoes are located 40 kilometers southwest of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. Tianlong mountain, also known as Fangshan, is 1700 meters high. It has a beautiful scenery. Historically, it was the summer palace of Gao Huan, the father of Gao Yang, the emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty. The surrounding mountains are undulating, with lush pines and cypresses, rippling springs in Longwang cave, and rippling streams in front of the mountain. Since the Tianlong temple was built at the foot of the mountain in the Northern Qi Dynasty, later generations used to call it Tianlong mountain. Tianlong temple, renamed Shengshou temple in Song Dynasty, was burned in 1948. In 1981, the NANDA temple in the southern suburb of Taiyuan was moved to the mountain. It has been renovated.

brief introduction

There are 24 caves excavated in the Eastern Wei Dynasty, the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, eight caves in the eastern Feng Dynasty, thirteen caves in the Western Feng Dynasty and three caves in the northern Shan Dynasty. There are more than 1500 statues and 1144 reliefs, caissons and portraits.

The caves were excavated at different times, with the Tang Dynasty being the largest, with 15 caves. The proportion of stone carvings in the Eastern Wei Dynasty is moderate, and the images are realistic and lifelike, with a strong flavor of life; the statues in the Tang Dynasty are more rigorous, refined and exquisite. The stone carvings of Tang Dynasty have vivid posture, graceful posture, smooth knife washing, and rich texture. In the "Manshan Pavilion" of cave 9, the seated statue of Maitreya Buddha is about 8 meters high, with harmonious proportion and dignified appearance; the Standing Statue of Guanyin in the lower level is about 11 meters high, with plump body, rich Yingluo and transparent Saro, while the statue of Puxian, with a smile and self-confidence, is a fine stone carving. In the poem Tianlong Temple written by Zhang Mian of the Ming Dynasty, there is a sentence that "the door is opposite to Qiu song, Yan Shi, and the hall is surrounded by dragon and cypress. On Tianlong mountain, there are pines and cypresses all over the mountain, especially the ancient pines and dragons in Panlong mountain.

With its skillful modeling, appropriate proportion, soft lines and fine carving, Tianlongshan Grottoes provide rich material materials for later generations to study Buddhism, fine arts, sculpture and architecture. It is a model of ancient Chinese sculpture art and plays an extremely important role in the history of world sculpture art. Take a minibus from Taiyuan to Qingxu, or take bus No.8 to Jinci, then go up to Tianlong mountain behind Jinci, and walk along Panshan highway.

Characteristics of Grottoes

Gao Huan, the Prime Minister of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, was the first to dig caves 2 and 3 of Dongfeng; Gao Yang, his son, dug three caves, namely cave 1 of Dongfeng and cave 10 and 16 of Xifeng; cave 11 of Dongfeng was dug between the Northern Qi Dynasty and Sui Dynasty; cave 8 of Dongfeng was dug when Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty was the king of Jin Dynasty; the remaining 18 caves were dug in Tang Dynasty. It spanned four dynasties and lasted for more than 400 years, reflecting the different styles and artistic achievements of each period, but it also had a traditional relationship. For example, grottoes No.1, No.10 and No.16 of the Northern Qi Dynasty have a wooden front corridor in front of the grottoes. The corridor is carved with two columns. The column head bears the branches of Pu Bai. There is a bucket of three arches on the square, and a herringbone fork is used to fill the space. It is the only existing architectural example of the Northern Qi Dynasty, which has great scientific research value. Cave 8 of the Sui Dynasty is a bottomed cave with a square tower in the center. There are niches and statues on the wall and the four sides of the tower. The structure is complex but the treatment is very appropriate. The double hook clothing pattern is simple and smooth, which is unique. Cave 9 of Xifeng is a rare masterpiece in the late Tang Dynasty. There is a 755cm high Maitreya sitting statue on the top of the peak. The graceful and gorgeous image has a simple and warm feeling. The combination of virtual and real clothing patterns and reasonable gathering and scattering add a lively atmosphere to the Buddha statue in Yan. In the lower part, the statue of Guanyin, which is 500 cm high, is mainly composed of 11 faces of Guanyin, with Manjusri and Puxian Bodhisattvas as its attendants. It is handled in the way of male body and female posture, which perfectly shows the circuitous sculpture skills among the body, gauze and ornaments. On the back wall, there are a group of light relief sculptures of Maitreya, sitting Buddha and many Buddhas sitting on the rosette to reflect the pure land of Maitreya. There are also some niches between the cliffs. The combination of leniency and violence and the combination of simplicity and complexity has a profound meaning. In order to protect this group of grottoes, the three-story Ming style pavilion was rebuilt, with white marble steps under it and wooden ladders built in between to the top of Maitreya Buddha. Using the old name, it is called "Manshan Pavilion". "High Pavilion stopping cloud" is one of the eight sceneries of Tianlong mountain.

Tianlongshan Grottoes also have three Tang Grottoes in Fuhui Temple of shijiayu on the north slope, and five Grottoes from the Five Dynasties to the yuan and Ming Dynasties on the cliff of liuzigou beach on the south slope (three of which have no Buddha statues). Therefore, Tianlongshan Grottoes should be 33 grottoes, among which 30 Grottoes have Buddha statues, not only 25 grottoes. It is only because the route between the north and the south is not smooth, the cliff is dangerous, and it is a late work Little known.

Taking a comprehensive view of Tianlong mountain scenic spot, it is famous for its cultural landscape represented by grottoes. It is characterized by mature, full, refined techniques and meticulous expression of feelings, close to the life breath of laborers, strong national and local characteristics, and is famous for its "small and exquisite". It reflects the unique style of Tianlongshan sculpture art different from other Grottoes art, and is known as "Tianlongshan style", which is a brilliant pearl of ancient Chinese Grottoes sculpture art .

history

The Tianlongshan grottoes were founded in the Eastern Wei Dynasty (534-550 AD). Gao Huan excavated the Grottoes in Tianlongshan. Gao Yang, the son of Gao Huan, established Jinyang of the Northern Qi Dynasty as the other capital and continued to dig the Grottoes in Tianlongshan. In the Sui Dynasty, Yang Guang was the king of Jin Dynasty and continued to dig caves. In the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan and his son started in Jinyang and reached the peak of building caves.

Tianlongshan grottoes are located in the middle of the cliffs of the East and West peaks. Among these grottoes, there are 27 caves of kilns excavated in the Eastern Wei Dynasty, the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty. There are eight caves in Dongfeng, thirteen caves in Xifeng, three caves in Shanbei, and three caves in southwest of the temple. There are more than 1500 statues and 1144 reliefs, caissons and portraits. The caves were excavated at different times, most of them in the Tang Dynasty.

The sculpture technique of Tianlongshan Grottoes is a big step forward than that of the Northern Wei Dynasty. In the ninth cave, the original wooden structure "Manshan Pavilion" is divided into two layers. The upper layer is Maitreya Buddha, with a height of about eight meters. Although some parts are damaged, it is still the most complete stone statue preserved in Tianlong Mountain Grottoes. In the lower level, the Standing Statue of Guanyin is as high as 11 meters, with vivid shape and beautiful posture. It is wearing a Yingluo, and the gauze penetrates the body. The gauze is plump, and the texture of the thin and soft gauze is clear. It is one of the most valuable statues in the Tianlong Mountain Grottoes.

Key Grottoes

Tianlongshan grottoes are gray sandstone, which are easy to carve and weathering. Among them, Dongfeng Grottoes 12, Xifeng Grottoes 13.

At the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty, it was divided into the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Western Wei Dynasty. Although they all took "Dawei" as their national name, they were actually puppet regimes. The Eastern Wei Dynasty was Regent by Gao Huan. In 550 A.D., his son Gao Yang became emperor and changed Wei to Qi, which was called "Northern Qi" in history. Taiyuan was called Jinyang in ancient times. It was the other capital of Gao's family in the Eastern Wei Dynasty (534-550) and the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577). Gao Huan once built a summer palace in Tianlong mountain, which made Buddhism flourish rapidly here and started a large-scale construction project of grotto temples.

The two caves of the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the three caves of the Northern Qi Dynasty are all square caves with three walls and three niches. The combination of the statues of the Eastern Wei Dynasty has three statues. They are the three Buddhas of Sakyamuni, Maitreya on the left wall and Amitabha on the right wall. In the Western Wei Dynasty, it was changed into five statues, and Maitreya Buddha sitting on his back was changed into Maitreya Bodhisattva sitting on his feet. The image of the Eastern Wei Dynasty is thin and simple, which is still the style of "beautiful bone and clear image". The images of the Northern Qi Dynasty are less dynamic, and the emphasis is on the carving of the physical structure. The sculpture language is perfect. At the same time, we can also see the focus on the architectural structure in the niche shape and cave shape, which can accurately reproduce the original appearance of the wooden architecture at that time.

The only cave in the Sui Dynasty has a famous inscription on kaihuang's stone chamber. It can be seen that the cave was built in 584, the fourth year of kaihuang in the Sui Dynasty. Jinyang is also the place where Li Yuan, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, prospered. Therefore, it is also a different capital in the Tang Dynasty. Buddhism is more developed. As a result, Tianlong mountain was excavated in the Tang Dynasty, with the largest number of 15, which can be represented by the "Manshan Pavilion" in cave 9. This is a large cave with two floors. On the upper floor, there is an 8-meter-high statue of Maitreya reclining. On the lower floor, there are 11 6-meter-high statues of Avalokitesvara in the middle. On the left and right are Puxian riding the statue and Manjusri riding the lion. The statue is plump, elegant and delicate.

Generally speaking, the artistic level of Tianlongshan statues is higher than that of other grottoes of the same era, which vividly shows the process of the transformation of grotto art from the Northern Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Unfortunately, in the 1920s, the Tianlongshan grottoes were damaged by unbelievable illegal chiseling, and a large number of exquisite works were lost abroad.

Tianlongshan Grottoes have been listed in the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units, in order to better protect and carry forward this valuable historical and artistic heritage.

Detection and protection

assessment

After checking the diseases of the 25 Grottoes on Tianlong mountain one by one, experts from Yungang Grottoes cultural relics research institute said that an investigation and evaluation report on the diseases of the grottoes group is expected to be made by the end of August.

Tianlongshan grottoes, located in the mountains 36 kilometers southwest of Taiyuan City, were first excavated in the Northern Dynasty and Eastern Wei Dynasty more than 1400 years ago. After excavation in the Northern Qi, Sui, Tang and Li dynasties, there are 25 coexisting grottoes

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