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Zhaoling Mausoleum
Emperor Li Shimin
Zhaoling Mausoleum is the tomb of Emperor TaiZong of Tang Dynasty-Li Shimin.
He was the second son of Li Yuan and Empress Wen Ye. He was originally
conferred the title of Ch'in King and through the famous Xuanwu Gate Event
he succeeded to be the Crown Prince and later be descent to throne fro
24 years as "Zhenguan Reign". Among all the emperors, he was
one of the most brilliant rulers in Chinese history. He was recognized
as an emperor of great talent and bold vision with his great achievements
during his reigning time. He has contributed a lot on unifying the Tang
Dynasty.
Why choose to set
against the mountain?
Emperor Li Shimin established his tomb against Jiuzong Mountain. As a
matter of fact, he set a leading card in building in this way of Tang
Dynasty. It is said that before Emperor Wen De's death, she told Emperor
TaiZong that her burial site should be placed against a mountain so that
there would be no need to build a tomb. In the mausoleum against Jiuzong
Mountain, there was no gold or jade or anything precious except for some
earthen and woodenwares. These were placed here to pacify thieves; their
existence or loss was not important. From the excavated parts of the mausoleum,
we could now say that the whole project was extravagant but not thrifty.
Therefore, in placing the tomb against the mountain they protected it
from theft rather than the original propose as requested by the empress.
Architecture
As the most typical imperial mausoleum in China, Zhaoling Mausoleum stands
on the hilltop of Mt. Jiuzhong, 60 km northwest of Xi'an city. Although
14 of the satellite tombs have been excavated, the emperor's mausoleum
itself has not. Covering an area of 87.5 square miles and constructed
against mountains, the tomb chamber was built on a peak accessible by
a 230-meter-long tunnel excavated through the mountain with five stone
gates installed along. Rooms on both side of the tunnel contained
Zhaoling Museum
Zhaoling Museum has a collection of totally 42 vertical memorial tablets
from both outside and interiors. And record said that initially there
stood six bas-reliefs horses of Buddhist of great artistic value but now
two had been shipped abroad. The museum also displays all the artifacts
removed from the excavated satellite tombs. There is a splendid selection
of superb ceramic figurines, wall paintings, and utensils.
The Zhaoling Museum was opened to the public in 1978, which appears to
be another good tour choice today.
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