What are the characteristics of Ming Xian Mausoleum?
The Ming Xian Mausoleum is the mausoleum of Emperor Zhu Gaochi and Queen Zhang, the fourth emperor of the Ming Dynasty. It was built after the death of Renzong. Before his death, Renzong issued an edict requiring the tomb system to be simple and economical. Therefore, Ming Renzong's son Ming Xuanzong personally determined the regulations of the mausoleum and appointed Chengshan Marquis Wang Tong and Ministry of Industry Minister Huang Fu to build the mausoleum. In order to comply with the will, everything was kept simple, and the Ming Xian Mausoleum was built in only 3 months.
After the Xianling Mausoleum was completed, the mausoleum system was indeed relatively simple. Its Shinto branches out from the north of Wukong Bridge in the north of Changling Shinto, and is about 1,000 meters long. There is a single stone bridge built on the way. The pavement is paved with city bricks in the middle, with gravel on both sides for scattered water. It is very simple, and there are no separate stone statues, stele pavilions and other buildings.
Compared with Changling, the mausoleum palace architecture is also very simple. It is oriented 20 degrees south to west and covers an area of only about 42,000 square meters. The mausoleum hall, two side halls, and the divine kitchen each have five rooms, and they are all single-eaves buildings. The Qin'en Gate has only three rooms. Not only are the square city and Minglou not as tall as Changling, but the gate under the city has been changed. For a simpler straight-through front-to-back form. Therefore, the screen wall was not located in the cave, but was instead located behind the square city and in front of the tomb.
The Qishi Chaliang Road leading to Dengming Tower was changed to the left and right sides of Fangcheng within Baocheng. Since the Xianling mausoleum system does not pursue luxury, it is said that "Xianling mausoleum is the simplest and Jingling mausoleum is the smallest." This simple style also set a model for later emperors to build mausoleums.
Another characteristic of the Ming Xian Mausoleum is that the Ming’en Hall and the Fangcheng Ming Tower are not connected to each other in the courtyard. The front is dominated by the Ming'en Hall, with an entrance courtyard. There are two verandas and sacred silk furnaces built on the left and right in front of the hall. The main entrance of the courtyard is the Qin'en Gate, which is also the gate of the cemetery. There is a large platform in front of the door and a single-seat gate at the back of the courtyard. The back is dominated by Baocheng and Minglou, and the front leads to the courtyard. There are two pillared star gates and stone confession tables built in the courtyard. The courtyard gates are three glazed flower gates with single eaves on the top of the mountain. Between the two courtyards, there is a small earth mountain called Yingbi Mountain. The reason why we chose the layout with a hill in the middle is related to the feng shui of the cemetery.
The hill in front of Xianling Baocheng is called "Yu'an Mountain". It extends from the left side of the cemetery and is the dragon sand of Xianling. Because it curves around the front of the mausoleum, it is also a recent example of the mausoleum dedication. In Feng Shui, "Long Xi is from a long time ago, Sha Xi is turning left and right", "Dragon and tiger are surrounded, recent cases are at hand", when talking about the pattern of Neimingtang. The small patterns within the Xianling Yuan Mountain and Longsha, Husha and Laishan are exactly the perfect Neimingtang pattern that Feng Shui masters pay attention to.
Because when the Xianling Mausoleum was built, Baocheng, Minglou and the first courtyard were only built within the scope of Mingtang, so the Soen Hall where the sacrificial ceremony was held was built in front of Yuan Mountain. This design not only solves the problem of the small area of Xianling Mingtang, which cannot accommodate the treasure city and the two front courtyards, but also maintains the Feng Shui creed of "dragon sand cannot be damaged". It also makes the cemetery full of mountains and rivers, and the palaces and halls are uneven, forming a harmonious atmosphere. The beauty of unity. The mausoleum building of Xianling Mausoleum was repaired between 1785 and 1787. During the renovation, the appearance of the Minglou remained unchanged, but the internal wooden beam frame was changed to a stone roof structure. The corridor under Fangcheng was sealed, and a stone inspection road was built on the right side to go up to Baocheng from Fangyuan.
Most of the ancillary buildings such as the two side halls and the divine kitchen were demolished. The Qin'en Gate has been reduced in size, and its top has been changed from a resting mountain style to a hard mountain style. The four walls of the pavilion for the stele of divine merits and virtues were removed, leaving only the base. A chest-high wall was built around the stele.