Celebrity Temple Confucius Temple in Qufu, Shandong Province

Celebrity Temple Confucius Temple in Qufu, Shandong Province

Qufu Confucius Temple is located in the center of the old city of Qufu, Shandong Province. It used to be a place where Confucius was worshipped in past dynasties, and now it is a national key cultural relics protection unit. One year after the death of Confucius, in the forty-second year of the week (478 BC), three old houses were converted into temples, in which Confucius' clothes and ritual vessels were displayed, and 18 years old worshipped. After the Western Han Dynasty, emperors of past dynasties rebuilt and expanded dozens of times, becoming a group of large-scale ancient buildings. Today, the Confucius Temple was built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Its architecture imitates the palace system, with nine courtyards before and after, running through the north-south central axis, more than one kilometer long from north to south, covering an area of 9.6 hectares. There are 54 gatehouses and 466 houses, including five halls, two temples, one pavilion, one altar, three shrines, two halls, two lent halls and seventeen pavilions. Surrounded by walls and turrets, pines and cypresses in the courtyard are arranged in forests, and the hall is carved with beams and painted buildings, resplendent and magnificent, with flowing bridges and birds whispering, which has a unique artistic conception. There are more than 2,000 inscriptions of all kinds, which is one of the rare large-scale forest of steles in China. It is rare that such a magnificent ancient building complex can be preserved well for a long time. Its reputation is well-known at home and abroad, and tourists come here to find and mourn.

Dacheng Hall is the main hall and core of Confucius Temple. In the Tang Dynasty, it was called Wang Wenxuan Hall, with five halls. During the overhaul in the fifth year of Song Tianxi (AD 1020), it was moved to this site and expanded into seven rooms. In the third year of Song Chongning (A.D. 1 104), Zhao Ji of Hui Zong took the meaning of "Confucius is a master" in Mencius and renamed it "Dacheng Hall". In the second year of Yongzheng in Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1724), it was rebuilt, with nine ridges and double eaves, covered with yellow tiles, carved beams and painted buildings, eight caissons decorated with golden dragon seals, and three gold-plated characters "Dacheng Hall" inscribed on the vertical plaque in the middle of the double cornices. The temple is 24.8 meters high, 45.69 meters long and 24.85 meters wide. It is located on the pedestal of the temple, with a height of 2. 1 m. It is the tallest building in the whole temple and one of the three ancient temples in China. Dacheng Hall is not only magnificent and luxuriously decorated, but also the most famous Confucius Temple in China. In addition, there are ten carved dragon columns on the front eaves of this hall, which is unprecedented in court architecture, and even the dragon columns in the Forbidden City are dwarfed. It is said that whenever the emperor comes to pay homage to Confucius, the dragon column should be wrapped in the HongLing, lest the emperor find out and commit the crime of beheading. In the center of the hall is a statue of Confucius, flanked by statues of Sipei and twelve philosophers. The East-West Gallery in front of the temple was originally used by Confucius disciples and Confucian sages in previous dynasties, but now it has been turned into a showroom to display inscriptions in previous dynasties, which is an artistic treasure house of calligraphy, painting and sculpture.

There are 120 Ming Dynasty stone carving comic books in Shengji Temple behind the Sleeping Hall, which record the achievements of Confucius. The Lu wall behind the well of the old house is the wall where the ninth generation of Confucius' Sun Confucius House collected the Book of History, The Book of Rites, The Analects of Confucius and The Book of Filial Piety when Qin Shihuang burned books to bury Confucianism. In order to commemorate Confucius' achievements in protecting culture, people specially built this Ruby.

Xingtan is located in the middle of the aisle in front of Dacheng Hall, which is said to be the place where Confucius gave lectures. There is an old cypress beside the altar, which is called "the old teacher planted cypress". Zhu Lan around Xingtan is surrounded by mountains, crossed with ridges, two layers of yellow tile cornices and double half arches. There are well-carved algae wells and painted golden dragons in the pavilion, including the imperial monument of Qingganlong "Xingtanzan". The stone incense burner in front of the pavilion, about one meter high, is a relic of the Jin Dynasty.

Kuiwen Pavilion is named Kuiwen after Kuixing, which is one of the 28 stars of the main text. Kuiwen Pavilion is a library pavilion, which originally contained books and ink donated by emperors to Confucius. On the east side of the pavilion, there is a book tablet written by Li Dongyang, Kuiwen Pavilion Fu. On the west side, there is the tablet of "The Book of Kuiwen Pavilion Resetting". After several generations of wars, most of the books in the pavilion have been lost.

Thirteen stone pavilions are located in the east and west courtyards in front of Dacheng Gate. Among the thirteen pavilions, there are 53 imperial monuments of Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.