First, the building is the tallest.The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the tallest existing palace building in my country, with a height of 35.05 meters (equivalent to about 12 floors) from the ground to the ridge of the hall.The main measures taken for this purpose are:
One is the highest base.Because of the limited height of timber, Chinese brick and wood palaces need to use high platforms to increase the building height.The Hall of Supreme Harmony and the Hall of Central Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony behind it are located together on a high platform in the shape of "earth" made of white marble.The so-called "Xumizuo", Xumi is Mount Sumeru, which is the center of the world in ancient Indian legends. It was originally used to house Buddha and Bodhisattva statues.The three-layer Xumi base with a total height of 8.13 meters is used to set off the greatness and holiness of the imperial power.Insert a sentence here: Under the tall platform of the three main halls, there is a dark passage, commonly known as "Tiger Cave", for the eunuchs to walk through.Tomorrow, Emperor Qi was on a moonlit night, playing hide and seek with eunuchs and maids in the cave.
Second, the Mingzhu is the highest.In the whole hall, there are 72 huge pillars supporting the huge roof.Among them, the six gold pillars near the throne in the hall are the tallest and thickest - 12.70 meters high (about equivalent to the height of a 4-story building) and 1.06 meters in diameter.The so-called "golden pillars" are actually wooden pillars pasted with gold leaf.In the Ming Dynasty, nanmu was used to make the pillars, collected from Sichuan, Guang, Yun, Guizhou and other places; in the reconstruction of the Qing Dynasty, pine wood was mainly used, collected from the deep mountains and old forests in Northeast China.Such thick wood is extremely difficult to find and expensive.When Kangxi rebuilt the Hall of Supreme Harmony, there was already a sense of conservation. If the wood was not long enough, it would be spliced to make it taller, and if the wood was not thick enough, it would be thicker.
The third is the highest dragon kiss.At both ends of the main ridge on the top of the hall, there are a pair of dragon kisses.Each piece is 3.40 meters high, 2.68 meters wide, 0.52 meters thick, and weighs about 4.3 tons. It is composed of 13 glazed components.Dragon Kiss puts a sword in its back, its four claws soar into the air, its mouth swallows its spine, and its eyes are majestic.This pair of dragon kisses is the largest and largest among the existing ancient Chinese buildings.
Let me talk about the little beasts decorated on the corners of the eaves of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.At the front is a fairy riding a phoenix (commonly known as "immortal riding a chicken"), followed by 10 small beasts, the first 9 are dragon, phoenix, lion, pegasus, seahorse, suanni, bean Fish, Xiezhi (xiezhi), bullfighting.Originally, 9 were the highest standard, but a monkey was added here, named "hang (hang) Shi", which is an isolated case in ancient Chinese architecture.In ancient mythology, dragons, phoenixes, celestial horses, and seahorses are all auspicious incarnations.The lion is the king of beasts, brave and majestic.Suanni is also a ferocious beast. It is said in "Erya·Shi Beast" that it can "eat tigers and leopards".Yayu is a strange beast in the sea, and bullfighting is a kind of Qiu (qiu) dragon. It is said that they can make clouds and rain, extinguish fire and prevent disasters.Xiezhi is also a beast in legends. According to "Story of Foreign Objects", it has a horn, which is designed to stand up to dishonest people, so it is the embodiment of justice.In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Xiezhi was embroidered on the censor's supplementary clothing.Xingshi is called "Xingshi" because it ranks last among the 10 little beasts.It is a monkey with wings, holding a vajra which is said to be able to bring down demons, and some people say that Xingshi looks like the legendary Lei Gong, probably a symbol of lightning protection.It can be seen that the 10 small animals on the eaves of the Hall of Supreme Harmony have rich meanings. They not only protect the hall from lightning and fire prevention, but also symbolize auspiciousness, authority and justice.
In short, the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the tallest existing palace building in China because of the tallest platform base, the tallest bright pillars, and the tallest dragon kiss.
Second, the largest volume.The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the largest existing palace building in my country. It is "one big and one hundred big", and its whole and each part are large.The main measures taken for this purpose are:
One is the largest bay.Instead of the usual highest level of nine bays from east to west and five bays to depth, which is the so-called "auspicious" number of the "Ninth Five-Year Plan", it has eleven bays from east to west.
The second is the largest area.It is 65 meters from east to west and 35.5 meters from north to south, with a construction area of about 2377 square meters.This is the largest existing single building area in ancient China.
The third is the most bold.Bronze tortoises and bronze cranes are displayed on the east and west sides of the front of the hall respectively, symbolizing the longevity of the tortoise and the longevity of the crane and the generations of the country.There is a white marble sundial in the left front corner, and a gilt-bronze Jialiang in the right front corner.The sundial is a timer in ancient my country, and the time is determined according to the length and direction of the sun's shadow; Jialiang is a standard measuring instrument in ancient my country—a symbol of imperial power.The courtyard-style square in front of the hall covers an area of about 30,000 square meters, how spacious and imposing it is!
Third, the decoration is the most beautiful.The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the most beautiful palace building in my country, "one beautiful, one hundred beautiful", and its whole and parts are the most beautiful.There is a poem that says: "Although there is little increase in the past, it is already poor and beautiful." ("Zhilu Collection·Fu of the Hall of Supreme Harmony")
One is that the caisson is the most beautiful.In the top of the hall is a caisson well with a diameter of 6 meters and a height of 1.8 meters. The upper circle and the lower part are engraved with a lying giant dragon in the middle.
Second, color paintings are the most beautiful.On the indoor and outdoor beams of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, there are colored paintings of golden dragons and seals. The patterns are mainly dragons in various postures, such as two dragons playing with beads, lifting dragons, and walking dragons, etc., surrounded by cloud patterns and flame patterns.This kind of colored painting is the highest grade in Ming and Qing architectural paint colored paintings.
The third is that the BRICs are the most beautiful.There are a total of 4,718 large gold bricks two feet square on the ground in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.Gold bricks are not made of gold, but specially made imperial bricks in Suzhou.The surface of gold bricks is light black, oily, bright, elegant, not astringent or slippery, durable, with good soil quality and fine firing.The cash brick making process has been listed in the national intangible cultural heritage.
Fourth, the highest level.The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the highest-ranked palace building in my country, with "one statue and hundreds of statues", its position, whole and parts all show dignity.for example:
One is the most respected position.The Hall of Supreme Harmony is located at the core of the central axis and is a symbol of imperial power.It echoes Taihe Gate, Meridian Gate, Duanmen, Chengtianmen (Tiananmen), Daming Gate (Daqing Gate), Zhengyang Gate and Yongding Gate in the south, and Qianqing Gate, Housan Palace, Shenwu Gate and Dimension Gate in the north. Anmen, Bell and Drum Towers echo symmetrically.
Second, the top of the hall is the most respected.It adopts the highest level of double eaves hipped roof in ancient buildings.The roof with double eaves and eaves - "double eaves" are two-story eaves; Two vertical ridges radiate from both ends of the ridge, and the two vertical ridges on each side form a side slope, so there are four slopes in total.People's common roofs are mostly hard tops, gable tops, and suspended tops.The hard top is "five ridges and two slopes", which is commonly used in folk houses; the Xieshan top is based on the hard top, with a short slanting ridge radiating from each of the four corners, so there are nine roof ridges in total.Its single-eave resting hill tops are like the East and West Six Palaces, double-eave resting hill tops are like Taihemen and Tiananmen, single-eave hipped roofs are like Tiren Pavilion and Hongyi Pavilion, and double-eave hip roofs are like Taihe Hall and Qianqing Palace.Others such as roll shed roof (roof such as roll shed), 盝 roof and so on. "Double eaves" refers to two-story eaves; "Water roof" refers to a four-sided sloping roof composed of one main ridge and four oblique ridges.This not only reflects the feudal level, but also increases the height of the building.The Forbidden City has only the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Palace of Qianqing, the Palace of Kunning, the Hall of Fengxian, the Hall of Huangji and the four gates of the Palace City—the Meridian Gate, the Donghua Gate, the Xihua Gate, and the Shenwu Gate are buildings with double eaves and hipped roofs.
The third is the most respected throne.This is mainly reflected in the pedestal and dragon chair in the main hall, commonly known as the golden throne. There is a Xumizuo-style wooden base, which was called Jintai in the Ming Dynasty.There are three Danbi roads on the front and left and right sides of the base, and there are fences outside.The hall is covered with yellow velvet carpets, and the bottom is lined with brown bamboo strip mats. ("Miscellaneous Notes of Qingqi") On the base is a carved golden lacquer throne.Behind the throne is a carved dragon-painted gold screen, and in front of the throne are a pair of treasure elephants, lu (lu) ends, cranes, and incense pavilions.On both sides of the throne, six golden pillars stand upright, and six giant dragons hover upwards, with their heads stretching towards the throne.All of these highlight the supremacy of the emperor and imperial power.
In 1915, Yuan Shikai restored the imperial system and wanted to hold the ascension ceremony in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. He specially rushed to make a high-backed chair to replace the original throne.Later, the Palace Museum decided to remove Yuan Shikai's "Dragon Chair" and replace it with the original throne, but the original throne disappeared. In 1959, Mr. Zhu Jiazhen found this throne in the warehouse by comparing an old photo of the interior of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the late Qing Dynasty.The throne, which has been painted gold for hundreds of years, is still golden and has now been restored to its original position.
It can be imagined that if the ministers kneeling in the courtyard of the Hall of Supreme Harmony want to catch a glimpse of Longyan, they have to look through the courtyard about 180 meters long, then cross the 8-meter-high white marble platform, and pass through the wide Danchi (moon Taiwan), and then enter the Hall of Supreme Harmony, I am afraid that even the shadow of the emperor sitting on the throne will not be seen.Even the ministers kneeling in the Hall of Supreme Harmony could not raise their eyes to look at the emperor who was above him.And this just created the dignity and authority of the emperor.
Such a majestic and magnificent Hall of Supreme Harmony was destroyed by fire four times.
