| | | | Xi'an Stele Forest Museum | 
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| Beilin Bowuguan
Submission to the UNESCO World Heritage : 1996
Xi'an (China)
| | | | Once the Temple of Confucius, the Forest of Steles was originally built in the second year of Yuanyou in the Northern Song Dynasty (1087 A.D.), when a large Confucian collection of steles cut in 837 A.D.- the oldest existing texts of the Confucian classics - was moved here for safekeeping. | | Xi'an Stele Forest Museum : Virtual tour |  | 10 sections and 13 items |
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Xi'an Stele Forest Museum : Outdoor Architecture (4)
Xi'an Stele Forest Museum : Sculpture (6)
|  | The Second Display Room (1)
Tang Dynasty
The Second Display Room mainly keeps tablets of calligraphy inscribed by many famous calligraphers of the Tang Dynasty. These tablets have served as models for calligraphy students.
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|  | Third Display Room (1)
The Third Display Room contains tablets from the Han to the Song dynasties. They are inscribed with a rich variety of calligraphy, including seal characters, official script, regular script, running hand and cursive hand. The tablets could very well describe the evolution of the Chinese writing system.
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|  | The Fourth Display Room
Tang Dynasty
The Fourth Display Room exhibits works of poetry in the authentic hand-writing of the well-known calligraphers from the Song through the Qing dynasties, tablets of historical significance in periods of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and some liner engravings from the Song through the Qing dynasties.
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| Stone Sculpture Gallery (1)
The Stone Sculpture Gallery was built in 1963, including mausoleum stone sculpture and religious stone sculpture from Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24A.D.) to Tang Dynasty.
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| | Xi'an Stele Forest Museum : Description | |
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The museum, at San Xue Jie Street nearby the South Gate in Xi'an, is the "largest stone library in China. It covers an area of 31,000 square meters and is divided into seven major exhibition halls, which mainly displayed ancient calligraphy, historical records and stone carvings.
A fine stele tablet is a combination of painting, carving, calligraphy and culture, said Zhao, adding that the significance of the forest steles was that they provided precious materials for the study of fine painting, calligraphy and carving skills in ancient China and for studying the history of religion in China and ancient Sino-foreign exchanges.
The contents of the Forest Steles can be divided into four groups: works of literature and philosophy, historical records, calligraphy and pictorial stones. It has eight exhibition rooms, eight corridors, eight pavilions, with a floor space of 3,000 square meters. Altogether 2,420 blocks of famous stone tablets of the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty and the successive dynasties were collected in the forest. There are 1089 stone tablets on display.
Among the best-known stone tablets of calligraphy there are the Tablet to Cao Quan in the Han Dynasty, the Tablet to General Guangwu in the Former Qin Dynasty, and also the most outstanding works of the leading calligraphists such as Li Si of the Qin Dynasty, Cai Yong of the Han Dynasty, Wang Xizhi of the Jin Dynasty, Zhi Yong of the Sui Dynasty and Ouyang Xun, Yu Shinan, Zhu Suiliang, Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, Zhang Xu and Huai Su of the Tang Dynasty.
The works of Yan Zhenqing alone occupies 7 blocks of stone tablets. In the collections of the Forest of Steles there is a huge amount of the ancient literature works and documentation, among which the Kaicheng Incriptions from the Tang Dynasty (618/907) inscribed with the thirteen classics and historical records, totaling 650,000 Chinese characters.
The Popular Stele of Daqin Nestorianism, which stands out for the small cross at the top, engraved in AD 781 to mark the opening of a Nestorian church. The Nestorians, an early Christian set, who were differed from orthodox Christianity in their belief that Christ's human and divine natures were quite distinct.
In addition, a large amount of art treasures, such as the famous Six Legendary Horses as well as other stone carvings and inscriptions for religious use and for tombs of the Han and the Tang dynasties are also well preserved.
It is also a treasure house of Chinese calligraphy by famous calligraphers from the Hang to the Qing (1644/1911) dynasties.
The stele forest was put under state key protection in 1961.
Exhibition Hall One mainly displays the text of twelve Confucian classics carved on 14 steles. The twelve works including the Analects of Confucius, Books of Changes, Books of Songs and some others. These twelve classics are must-be readings for intellectuals of China's feudal society. The stones were engraved over thousands of years ago when the printing was not yet invented. In order to well preserve these works and pass down to the later generations, the rulers ordered to carved them down on these stones.
Hall Two exhibit steles of calligraphy written by the prominent calligraphers of China's ancient Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty witnessed a flowering of creativity in many fields. Chinese classic calligraphy reached its golden age during this time. Visitors will find works of Ouyang Xun, Yan Zhenqing, Zhangxu and many other noted ancient calligraphers in this hall.
Hall Three also show calligraphy works. These steles were inscribed with five varieties of calligraphy, seal characters, official script, regular script, running hand and cursive hand. From these steles, visitors can have a clear idea of the development of Chinese writing. Chinese calligraphy forms an important part in China's magnificent culture, so these stone tablets are of great importance to explore China's long and magical ancient culture.
Hall Four contains various stone sculptures. 200 works from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty were displayed, including portraits of Confucius, scripture of Buddhists from the Tang Dynasty and much more.
Hall Four, Five, Six and Seven also well worth a visit. Hall Five shows steles engraved with historical records of the Song to Qing Dynasties, China's last imperial power. Many famous and of significant importance poems were displayed in Hall Six and Seven.
| | Xi'an Stele Forest Museum : History | |
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Tablets was born out of the place where the stone classics in the Tang Dynasty were kept. The so called stone classics during the Tang Dynasty included the "Classic of Filial Piety" in the handwriting of Emperor Xuan Zong in 745 A.D. and the "Kaicheng Stone Classics" engraved in 837 A.D.. These stone classics were originally erected inside the Imperial Ancestral Temple (in the vicinity of Wenyi Road, southern suburbs, Xi'an) in the Tang Dynasty. By the end of the Tang Dynasty, Zhu Wen forced Tang Zhao Zong to move the capital to Luoyang and destroyed Chang'an City almost completely, bringing it down to ruins. Han Jian, commander-in-chief, reduced the size of the city for the purpose of easy defence. As a result, the stone classics were abandoned in the wild suburbs, Later on, Han Jian was the first to move the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Classics of Filial Piety into Confucian Temple (along the Shehui Road, western street, Xl'an) inside the city proper.
In 909 A.D. , when Liu Xun defended Chang'an, he moved the Kaieheng Classics into the Confucian Temple. That was the earliest place where the steles in the Tang Dynasty were kept.
Because of the low-lying land and poor environment, which were not fit to keep the stone classics, in 1087, all the stone classics and other important steles in the Tang Dynasty were shifted to the place where the stone forest lie. This is the earliest "Forest of Steles in Xi'an". Because of the poor light and constant rubbings of the steles, They became very black, so people called this place "dark hole" or "hole of steles".
In 1555 A.D. a big earthquake took place in Central Shaanxi. The forest of steles suffered serious destruction. Out of the 114 kaicheng classics, 40 fell down and lay broken due to the quake. In 1588, Ye Shirong, scholar then in Shaanxi, supplied the missing words and carved them, according to the character forms, onto 97 small stone steles, and placed them along side the stone classics. Consequently the Kaicheng Stone Classics were kept in their complete form as "a book of stone carvings". In 1664, the Book of Mencius was engraved additionally.
The name "Stone Forest" was determined in the early years of Qing Dynasty. The Stone Forest now houses over 3,000 pieces of stone steles ranging from the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. The museum has seven display rooms, six epitaph corridors and one tablet pavilion.
In March, 1961, the State Council promulgated that the Stone Forest was a national monument. | | Xi'an Stele Forest Museum : More pictures | |
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