The forest of stone tablets museum, a courtyard-styled structure, is situated on the site of the
Confucian temple on seance street, Xi'an. It served as the imperial ancestral temple in the tang Dynasty, and later became the Confucian Temple in the Song Dynasty. In 1950, it was extended into the museum that greets us today. One may wonder why its two gates are facing east and west respectively instead of facing south as most of the traditional ones.
The forest of stone tablets was originally set up in 1087. the treasure house comprises a large collection of centuries-old stone tablets. Over 3,000 stone tablets from the Han Dynasty through the Qing Dynasty are preserved. The museum houses numerous stone tablets, which look like a dense forest; hence its name the "Forest of stone Tablets". The forest of stone Tablets is not only a treasure
house of ancient Chinese calligraphy, but also a rich collection of historical documents and stone carvings of various styles.
The tablets bear evidence to the cultural achievements recorded in ancient china and the cultural exchanges between china and other countries. No tourist will take the risk of missing the forest of stone Tablets, once they visit Xi'an .
This place initially served to store the stone classics of the Tang Dynast, including the "Classic on Filial Piety" in the handwriting of Emperor xuan zong in 837. They were originally erected inside the imperial Academy (in the area of wenyi road, south of the urban district) in Tang Dynasty,by the end of Tang
Dynasty, Zhu Wen forced Emperor Zhao Zong to move the capital to luoyang and then brought chang'an downto ruins. Han Jian, commander-in -chief of the garrison, reduced the size of the city for the sake of defense. As a result, the "Stone classic" were abandoned in the suburban wilderness. Later on, Han Jian moved the Imperial Academy and the classic on filial piety into the Confucian Temple (on the shehui road, western street, Xi'an) in the urban district.
"the classic on filial piety" is the largest stone tablet in the forest of stone
Tablets. It was engraved after the handwritten copy of Emperor xuan zong (Li Long ji) in 745 A.D. the classic was compiled by zeng sen, a disciple of Confucius, after he attended his teacher's lecture on filial piety. Emperor xuan zong wrote a preface to the classic in the hopes that the county would be governed by the body of the classic. The small characters are Emperor xuan zong's annotations to the classic. The tablet is set on a three-layer base, with vivid carvings of trailing plants and lions. The upper part is decorated with clouds and auspicious animals in bas-relief. The table is made up of four pieces of stone, and a base under it, therefore it is literally called the "stone-base classics on filial piety".
Confucian temple on seance street, Xi'an. It served as the imperial ancestral temple in the tang Dynasty, and later became the Confucian Temple in the Song Dynasty. In 1950, it was extended into the museum that greets us today. One may wonder why its two gates are facing east and west respectively instead of facing south as most of the traditional ones.The forest of stone tablets was originally set up in 1087. the treasure house comprises a large collection of centuries-old stone tablets. Over 3,000 stone tablets from the Han Dynasty through the Qing Dynasty are preserved. The museum houses numerous stone tablets, which look like a dense forest; hence its name the "Forest of stone Tablets". The forest of stone Tablets is not only a treasure
house of ancient Chinese calligraphy, but also a rich collection of historical documents and stone carvings of various styles. The tablets bear evidence to the cultural achievements recorded in ancient china and the cultural exchanges between china and other countries. No tourist will take the risk of missing the forest of stone Tablets, once they visit Xi'an .
This place initially served to store the stone classics of the Tang Dynast, including the "Classic on Filial Piety" in the handwriting of Emperor xuan zong in 837. They were originally erected inside the imperial Academy (in the area of wenyi road, south of the urban district) in Tang Dynasty,by the end of Tang
Dynasty, Zhu Wen forced Emperor Zhao Zong to move the capital to luoyang and then brought chang'an downto ruins. Han Jian, commander-in -chief of the garrison, reduced the size of the city for the sake of defense. As a result, the "Stone classic" were abandoned in the suburban wilderness. Later on, Han Jian moved the Imperial Academy and the classic on filial piety into the Confucian Temple (on the shehui road, western street, Xi'an) in the urban district. "the classic on filial piety" is the largest stone tablet in the forest of stone
Tablets. It was engraved after the handwritten copy of Emperor xuan zong (Li Long ji) in 745 A.D. the classic was compiled by zeng sen, a disciple of Confucius, after he attended his teacher's lecture on filial piety. Emperor xuan zong wrote a preface to the classic in the hopes that the county would be governed by the body of the classic. The small characters are Emperor xuan zong's annotations to the classic. The tablet is set on a three-layer base, with vivid carvings of trailing plants and lions. The upper part is decorated with clouds and auspicious animals in bas-relief. The table is made up of four pieces of stone, and a base under it, therefore it is literally called the "stone-base classics on filial piety".
