Original title: The head of the Buddha in Tianlongshan Grottoes returned to his homeland after nearly a hundred years
On July 24th, at the Tianlongshan Grottoes Museum in Taiyuan City, visitors were photographing the returned Tianlongshan Grottoes “the head of the main Buddha on the north wall of Cave 8”.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chai Ting
Our newspaper, Taiyuan, July 24th, by reporter Jianbin LiOn the 24th, the return ceremony of the “Lord Buddha Head on the North Wall of Cave 8” at the Tianlongshan Grottoes, which had been lost overseas for nearly a hundred years, was held at the Tianlongshan Grottoes Museum in Taiyuan, Shanxi. This is the first precious lost cultural relic returned from Japan to the Tianlongshan Grottoes in the past 100 years.
The returning Buddha head officially appeared on the 24th at the “Return of National Treasure on the Road to Fuxing” Tianlongshan Grottoes Returning Buddha Head Special Exhibition, and as a core exhibit, it will be displayed here for a long time. The exhibition focuses on the return of the head of the Tianlong Mountain Buddha, and is divided into two units: the death of the prosperous age and the return of the prosperous age. It comprehensively uses various forms such as precious cultural relics, historical pictures, digital restoration, and 3D printing grottoes to describe the loss of cultural relics in the Tianlongshan grottoes. And the return process, showing the latest results of investigation and research, archaeological excavation, restoration and protection of lost cultural relics.
According to reports, the Buddha has a head length of 33.7 cm, a width of 30.4 cm, a height of 44.5 cm, and a weight of 55.5 kg. The Buddha’s head is in a low bun, with a round face, slightly closed eyes, slightly pursed lips, a subtle smile, skilled carving techniques, exquisite expression techniques, and distinctive characteristics of the times. It has the distinctive characteristics of the late Northern Dynasty to the early Sui Dynasty. It is a study of the Tianlongshan Grottoes Even precious physical specimens of ancient grotto art in our country have important historical, artistic and scientific value and are tentatively designated as national first-class cultural relics.
The Tianlong Mountain Grottoes are located on the side of Tianlong Mountain, 40 kilometers southwest of Taiyuan. It was once famous for its exquisite stone carving art and distinctive regional style. There are 24 caves excavated in the Eastern Wei Dynasty, Northern Qi Dynasty, Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty. There are more than 1,500 co-existing grotto statues, 1,144 reliefs, algae wells, and portraits. In the 1920s, the Tianlongshan Grottoes were robbed on a large scale, and a large number of cultural relics including the “main Buddha head on the north wall of Cave No. 8” were lost overseas. In September 2020, the Buddha head appeared on the Japanese auction market. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage, in conjunction with relevant ministries and commissions, has gone through tortuous recourse actions to facilitate the return of the Buddha to the motherland. Since the beginning of this year, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, together with relevant parties in Shanxi, has promoted various tasks such as site selection for the Buddha’s head exhibition, safety and environmental renovation, and exhibition planning and production, so as to create conditions for the Buddha’s head to return to his original place.
The Chinese government reserves the right to recover historically stolen and illegally exported cultural relics. At the return ceremony, Li Qun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, stated that during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, resources investigation, legal improvement, and capacity building will be carried out in an orderly manner. All possible and necessary channels will be used to promote changes. Recourse and return of lost cultural relics.
Regarding why the head of the Buddha and the body of the Buddha are not integrated, Yu Hao, the curator of the Tianlongshan Grottoes Museum, said that the north wall of Cave 8 where the head of the returned Buddha was originally located is close to the cliff body, and the cliff body has serious fissures. If the head of the Buddha is placed in place, it will It is difficult to avoid a certain degree of weathering, so the Buddha head will be preserved and permanently displayed in the museum. The specially designed lighting and ultra-low reflectivity display cabinets in the exhibition hall can perfectly present the attractive contour lines of the Buddha’s head.
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