Songyue Temple Pagoda

Songyue Temple Pagoda

Songyue pagoda, located in Songyue temple at the southern foot of Songshan Mountain in Dengfeng City, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, is a pagoda of Northern Wei Dynasty. It was built in the Zhengguang period of Northern Wei Dynasty (520-525).

Songyue Temple Pagoda is a 15 storey brick Pagoda with dense eaves. It is in a dodecagonal shape with a height of 37 meters. It is composed of abutment, pagoda body, 15 storey brick eaves and Tasha. The tower consists of upper and lower parts. On the East, West, South and north sides of the upper part, a gate is opened to the chamber of the tower. The lower part is vertical up and down, and there is no decoration on the outer wall. On the top of the tower are 15 layers of overlapping dense eaves, which retract from bottom to top layer by layer, forming a soft parabola. The Tasha is composed of base, Fulian, xumizuo, Yanglian, Xianglun and Baozhu. There is an underground palace under the Tasha. Songyue Temple Pagoda is the earliest existing brick Pagoda in China, which reflects the process of cultural exchange and innovation between Chinese and foreign architecture. It has great value in structure and modeling, and has a great impact on later brick pagoda architecture.

On March 4, 1961, Songyue pagoda was announced as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council of the people's Republic of China

On August 1, 2010, Dengfeng historical buildings including Songyue temple and pagoda were listed as world cultural heritage.

Historical evolution

Songyue temple was built in 509, the second year of Yongping reign of emperor Xuanwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty. It was originally the palace of emperor Xuanwu, but later it was converted into a Buddhist temple. In 520, the first year of Zhengguang reign of emperor Xiaoming, it was renamed Xianju temple.

At the same time, according to the inscriptions of Songyue Temple written by Li Yong of Tang Dynasty, "the people of Songyue Temple left the palace after emperor Xiaoming of Wei Dynasty. In the first year of Zhengguang, I lived near the temple The tower with 15 stories was built in the later Wei Dynasty. Pull out the ground four shop and towering, flying eight phase and round

In the second year of Renshou (601), Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty, Xianju temple was renamed Songyue temple, and Songyue pagoda was also named after it.

In the Tang Dynasty, the top of the pagoda of Songyue temple was rebuilt.

Architectural features

Songyue Temple Pagoda is a brick tower with dense eaves. It is also the only dodecagonal pagoda. It is close to a circular plane and is divided into two sections, both of which are quite close to the Indian "stupa". It is an early form of dense eaves pagoda. The profile of the pagoda of Songyue Temple shrinks inward according to certain curvature. The profile is soft, round, full, tough and healthy.

Songyue temple tower is vigorous and majestic, light and beautiful, and its construction technology is extremely exquisite. The shape of the pagoda is deeply influenced by the ancient Indian Buddhist pagoda. Each part of the body of the pagoda is made with the style of "Baochai Yinjing pagoda" (Ayu King pagoda) and the flame shaped pointed arch, which obviously has the artistic style of Gandhara in ancient India.

Songyue pagoda is not only famous for its unique plane shape, but also famous for its beautiful shape. The whole tower room is in cylindrical shape. Although the tower is tall and straight, it is made of brick and yellow mud. The brick of the tower is small and thin. After more than 1000 years of wind, frost, rain and dew erosion, it is still strong.

The design inspiration of the landmark building "Millennium square" in Zhengzhou Zhengdong New District CBD comes from Songyue temple tower. The main building curve of "Millennium square" coincides with "Songyue temple tower", and the architectural plane layout is similar to that of the ancient tower.

Cultural relics

overview

Songyue Temple Pagoda is a 15 story brick Pagoda with dense eaves built of green brick and yellow mud, and its plane is dodecagonal. The total height is 37.045m, the bottom layer diameter is 10.6m, the inner diameter is more than 5m, and the wall thickness is 2.5m. The outside of the tower is composed of the foundation stone, the tower body and the baocha. 492 kinds of doors and windows were built on the low wall between the eaves. Close eaves from bottom to top layer by layer, forming a soft parabola. The top of the tower is crowned with a brick brake.

 

Abutment

The abutment plane is dodecagonal, 0.85m high and 1.60m wide. The present platform is no longer the original structure. The brickwork inside the platform is bonded with yellow mud, and the surface of the external brick wall is decorated with lime skin. In the south of the platform, the platform is built and the floor is paved with bricks. In the south of the platform, the footpath is made of bluestone and brick. To the north of the platform, there is a corridor leading to the main hall behind the tower, and the two sides of the corridor are built with stones. It is connected with the base of the platform by stepping stones. Platforms and corridors were built by descendants.

 

Tower body

The tower consists of two parts: the upper part and the lower part. That is to say, the first floor is divided into upper and lower parts by overlapping waist eaves. The lower part of the tower is 3.59 meters high and vertical. The upper part is 3.73 meters high, with one gate on each side of the East, West, South and North leading to the chamber of the tower. There are pointed arched lintels and cloud shaped lintels on the door, and three petaled lotus ornaments are placed on the top of the pointed arched lintel. The upper outer wall of the tower has eight sides, and each side is built with a single-layer square tower niche, which is composed of tower base, tower body and tower brake from bottom to top. The upper part of the niche is built with overlapping eaves, and the front side is inlaid with inscription stone. Under the inscription stone is a semicircular arch gate, which is built by the method of one coupon per volt. There are pointed arched lintels and cirrus shaped lintel corners. Inside the door is a rectangular chamber, and the back wall of the chamber still has the backlight pattern of the Buddha statue, so it is known that the Buddha statue was originally provided in the room. The lower part of the niche is a rectangular xumizuo with two doors on the front. Inside the gate, there are 16 stone lions carved with bricks. They have different images of front, side, squat and upright. They hold their heads high and erect their long tails. They are highly realistic, and have the same style and characteristics as those in the Buddhist carvings of Northern Dynasties in Central Plains such as Longmen Grottoes. In the upper part of the first floor, an octagonal leaning column is built at each corner of the tower. The head of the column is decorated with flame jewels and lotus. Under the column is a brick basin type column foundation.

 

Overlapping dense eaves

There are 15 layers of dense eaves on the upper part of the tower. Between the overlapping eaves is a very low straight wall. Because of the different number of bricks, the different radians of the eaves, the wall height between the eaves decreases from bottom to top, and the eaves width is divided layer by layer, so that the outer contour presents a parabolic shape. There are doors and windows on the wall of the tower between the overlapping eaves. There are 2 plate doors in the middle of each side. There are pointed arched lintels on the doors, and the lintel angle is in the shape of cirrus. Most of the lintels were draped. Some have two closed doors, others have one slightly open. Each side of the door is equipped with a "broken sub lattice window", each window is more than 4 lattice. Only the tenth floor has only one door and one window because of its narrow wall. Except for the 5th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 13th floors in the South and the 15th floor in the southeast, all the doors are false. A total of 492 doors and windows were built between the overlapped eaves.

 

Thatsa

The height of tashatong is 4.745m. From bottom to top, it is composed of base, Fu Lian, Xu Mizuo, Yang Lian, Xiang Lun and Bao Zhu, all of which are made of blue and gray brick after smooth building. The Pearl and the seventh phase wheel are coated with lime. The upper part of Baozhu is a flat top, and the metal brake rod is stretched out. The ornaments on the brake rod have been lost.

 

underground palace

The structure of the pagoda underground palace of Songyue temple is divided into three parts: corridor, palace gate and palace. The axis of the pagoda is symmetrical from east to west, and it is distributed from south to north. The corridor is made of brick with trapezoidal plane. The width of the inner entrance is 120 cm, the width of the outer entrance is 140 cm, and the length is 220 cm. The height from the bottom of the corridor to the upper entrance is 156 cm. From the perspective of architectural structure and layout, the pagoda underground palace of Songyue temple is a typical "a" - shaped plane underground palace, which was mostly based on this form in the past dynasties after the Tang Dynasty; from the perspective of decorative style, the motifs of Phoenix with ribbon and pomegranate branches on the stone components of the palace gate and palace are relatively clear, reflecting the characteristics of the times around the middle of the Tang Dynasty.

 

History and culture

Academic point of view

In the 1930s, architect Liu Dunzhen went to Songyue temple and pagoda for investigation. In his notes on the investigation of ancient buildings in the north of Henan Province, he said: "later Tang Dynasty square pagodas, such as Xiaoyan pagoda and Xiangji pagoda, were born here..."

Liang Sicheng, an architect, once made a list of cultural relics that must be protected by the central government. According to their importance, Liang Sicheng marked them with five circles, four circles and three circles In front of the pagoda of Songyue temple, there are five circles.

 

Commemorative Stamp

In September 2018, the "commemorative stamp for the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Iraq" was officially issued. The stamp pattern was set as Babel Tower and Songyue temple tower in Dengfeng, Iraq, which was issued by Iraq post.

 

Cultural relic value

After more than 1400 years of wind and rain erosion, the pagoda of Songyue temple still stands tall. It is the earliest existing brick Pagoda in China and an isolated example of ancient pagodas in China, which fully proves the high level of ancient Chinese architectural technology. Songyue Temple Pagoda is a treasure in the history of ancient architecture in China and the world, both in architectural art and architectural technology.

 

Songyue Temple Pagoda, as the originator of dense eaves pagoda, has great originality in the type of pagoda. It is the witness of the exchange between Chinese architectural art and western region architecture. It is the oldest existing Pagoda in China and can be called the earliest tube building in the world. It represents the start-up and model of similar architecture in East Asia, and has an irreplaceable position in the history of world architecture. Songyue pagoda is a kind of architectural witness that Buddhism can ensure and expand its influence by spreading in "heaven and earth".

 

protective measures

On March 4, 1961, Songyue pagoda was announced as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council of the people's Republic of China.

 

The pagoda of Songyue temple is long

Chinese PinYin : Song Yue Si Ta