The scale of Xixia Mausoleum is similar to that of Ming Tombs in Beijing. There are watchtowers on the ground floor of the mausoleum, and each mausoleum consists of Quetai, Shen Qiang, Beiting, Watchtower, Moon City, Inner City, Immortal Hall and Lingtai.
The tall Quetai of Xixia Mausoleum stands like a majestic guard at the southernmost tip of the cemetery. Symmetrically arranged on both sides of the central axis, with a distance of 20 meters between east and west, made of loess.
The sparrow terrace is square, with a side length of 8 meters and a height of 7 meters. The upper part is indented, and there is a small bridge abutment at the top, which is scattered with broken bricks, presumably the original building. Quetai is one of the characteristics that distinguish a mausoleum from a tomb buried with the grave.
The exhibition hall is located on both sides of the central axis, with east-west symmetry, 34 meters away from Taipei and 80 meters away from the East-West Hall.
The foundation of the Northeast Pavilion is square with rounded corners, and its four walls are three steps. The side length of the platform foundation is 2 1.5m, the top side length is 15.5m, and the height is 2.35m The four-wall steps are wrapped with rope bricks, and some bricks are still there.
There are three statues in the pavilion, which should have been four, but one of them was destroyed and I don't know where it went.
There was once a stone tablet carved in Xixia and Chinese to praise the emperor's achievements. There are also 360 inscriptions in Xixia, and the most one is only five words; There are also porcelain, bronze, iron fragments and clay plastic fragments.
Behind the pavilion is the Moon City, and the south wall takes Quemen as the center and enters the Moon City. There are stone statues of civil servants and military commanders here.
The Moon City is rectangular from east to west, with a distance of 120m from east to west and a distance of 52m from north to south. The wall base is about 2m wide and 0.7m high, covering an area of 10 mu, with the south wall of Lingcheng in the north.
The Moon City is named because it is exposed like a crescent moon. There is a door in the middle of the south wall of Yuecheng, and stone statues on both sides of the stone road.
To the north of Yuecheng is Lingcheng, and there is a gate in the center of the sacred wall to the south of Lingcheng. Entering Lingcheng through the city gate, surrounded by city walls, it is a north-south rectangle with a length of 180m from north to south and a length of 160m from east to west.
The foundation of the city wall is 3 meters wide and is rammed by loess section. Each section of foundation is like a Sumitomo, so it is also called Sumitomo-style God Wall.
The gate in the middle of the wall around Lingcheng is a gate, about 12 meters wide. Each gate consists of three conical rammed earth bases. It is speculated that the tiles and ridges scattered on the ground once had a gatehouse.
Every corner of the city wall has a corner platform, and the corner platform has brick residue. About 25 meters west of Nanshenmen, there is a pedestal made of loess, with a diameter of 20 meters and a height of 0.7 meters. There are no buildings on it, and a large number of blue bricks, gray tiles and stained glass components remain on the surrounding ground. This is the dedication hall.
Lingtai is located in the northwest of Lingcheng. It is an octagonal pyramid-shaped rammed earth platform with a height of about 20 meters. It is made of loess and is divided into five grades, seven grades and nine grades. The rammed earth platform has rafters and is covered with eaves bricks, which is a brick-wood tile structure.
A large number of architectural fragments such as tiles, tiles and dripping water are scattered around the mausoleum. Between the Fairy Hall and the Lingtai, there is a north-south pyramid-shaped mound filled with sand and stones. The pyramid-shaped mound is 50 meters long, and there is a thief pit at the northern end, with a diameter of 20 meters and a depth of about 5 meters.
Lingtai is the main building of the cemetery. In the ancient traditional cemetery buildings in China, the mausoleum platform is generally a mound, which plays a role in sealing the soil and is located above the tomb. However, the Xixia Mausoleum was built at the north of the mausoleum 10 meter, and it did not have the function of sealing the soil. Its shape is octagonal seven-level, five-level and nine-level towers, with a slightly higher bottom and an upper level. It is a tower-shaped mausoleum with a dense eaves structure of rammed earth, solid bricks and wood, and it stands outside the central axis, which is unprecedented in the architectural history of China and is the creation of the Tangut.
There is a memorial hall in front of the Taling, which is used for sacrifice and memorial.
The Mausoleum is located at the northern end of the tomb road, which is 0/0 meter away from Lingnan/Kloc. It is divided into the main room and the left and right ear rooms, and it is a soil hole structure.
There are parapets on the four walls of the tomb, and there are rotten coffins buried in the soil. There is a door in the center of the holy wall of Lingcheng, and there are horns at the four corners of the holy wall, which shows the boundary of the cemetery.
Some mausoleums also have outer cities, including closed, horseshoe-shaped and urn-shaped outer cities. The basic model is innovated on the basis of imitating Song Ling.
In addition, the entrance to the Western Xia Mausoleum is set inside the Immortal Hall, which is unique among the imperial tombs.
There are ***67 1 exquisite relics, 4 13 volumes, monographs, papers, magazines and other articles found in Xixia mausoleum. There are carved dragon stone pillars, stone horses, glazed kisses, Xixia inscriptions, stone statues, Buddhist scriptures, Buddhist paintings, Xixia porcelain, official seals and so on. In particular, the gold-plated bronze ox weighing 188kg is a treasure among Xixia cultural relics.
There are many building components scattered around the mausoleum, some of which are relatively complete and can be distinguished in shape. The figures on the stone carvings of Yuecheng Tomb Instrument have tassels and lotus hats on their chests; The claws, scales and other ornaments of animals are carved very finely and beautifully.
These cultural relics include Xixia characters, paintings reflecting the nomadic life and street life of Xixia people, various sculptures, coins circulating in various periods, such as Kaiyuan Bao Tong, Chunhua Bao Tong, Zhidao Bao Tong, Tianxi Bao Tong and Daguan Bao Tong, as well as various exquisite cultural relics. What is even more surprising is the large number of unique stone carvings and clay sculptures in the tomb.
The mausoleum tower of Xixia Mausoleum is located directly behind the mausoleum, which has never been seen in tombs in the Central Plains, reflecting the special burial custom of Xixia nobles. The stone tablets, tombstones, gilded bronze bulls and urn in the tomb of Xixia all reproduce the rich and colorful cultural history of ancient Xixia with their real materials.
In addition, the lifelike "Miao Yin Bird" found in the southeast corner and east gate of Lingcheng for architectural decoration is called Jialing Pinjia in Buddhist scriptures. There are also bronze mirrors with handles and Xixia ceramics collected from all over the country.
More mysteriously, these nine imperial tombs form a pattern of the Big Dipper, and the tombs buried with them are also arranged according to the astrological layout!
Xixia Mausoleum not only absorbed the advantages of imperial mausoleums since Qin and Han Dynasties, especially since Tang and Song Dynasties, but also was influenced by Buddhist architecture, organically combining Han culture, Buddhist culture and Tangut national culture, forming a unique cemetery architectural form in China.