Beijing Stone Carving Art Museum

Beijing Stone Carving Art Museum

The Beijing Stone Carving Art Museum is a cultural tourism attraction and a patriotic education base.

Destination Introduction

The Beijing Stone Carving Art Museum is located within the ruins of the Zhenjue Temple, about 500 meters east of Baishiqiao in Haidian District. It is a thematic museum showcasing the finest stone carvings and sculptures from the Beijing area, and opened to the public in October 1987. The outdoor displays of the Stone Carving Museum are divided into eight exhibition areas based on content and function, exhibiting over 500 types of historical stone carvings, plus more than a thousand additional items from the museum’s collection. These include the earliest extant stone carving in the Beijing area — the “Spirit Way Pillar of Qin Jun, Former Scribe of Youzhou in the Han Dynasty” — as well as components of stone gateways; precious Buddhist statues from the Northern Dynasties, epitaphs from the Tang and Ming dynasties, stone carvings from the Jin and Yuan periods, Qing Dynasty stone ceremonial structures and calligraphy models, and stone engravings of works by famous calligraphers.

The “Exhibition of the History of Stone Carvings” showcases the development of stone carving culture from primitive society through the Ming and Qing dynasties, recreating the progress of human civilization.

Zhenjue Temple, commonly known as the Five Pagoda Temple, was first built during the Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty, with the Diamond Throne Pagoda completed in the ninth year of the Chenghua reign (1473). The temple originally had over 200 halls, towers, and pavilions, but most were destroyed in a fire in the late Qing Dynasty, leaving only the pagoda.

The Diamond Throne Pagoda consists of a base, a spire pavilion, and five four-sided dense-eave towers. It features an inner brick and outer stone structure, covered in carvings depicting Buddhist themes. It is one of the older and structurally unique examples among the dozen or so similar pagodas still existing in China, serving as an important historical artifact and a rare piece of large-scale ancient art.

The site of the Beijing Stone Carving Art Museum is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The museum also offers a variety of service facilities: first-class collotype reproduction services, rubbings workshops, and chemical preservation services for stone carvings.

Address: No. 24, Wutasi Village, Haidian District, Beijing

Contact Number: 62173543

Opening Hours: 9:00 – 16:30, ticket sales stop at 16:00, closed on Mondays, open on weekdays and holidays.

Admission: Adults 10 RMB, tower climb 5 RMB; students 5 RMB, tower climb 2 RMB

Location: Located within the ruins of the Zhenjue Temple, about 500 meters east of Baishiqiao in Haidian District

Area: 2,100 square meters

The museum centers around the Diamond Throne Pagoda, with eight exhibition areas arranged on its east, north, and west sides according to the content of the stone carvings, creating a “stars surrounding the moon” display layout.

1. Comprehensive Exhibition Area: Located to the east of the throne, this area displays 31 steles of various shapes and contents. These include the Stone Dao Stele written by Emperor Yongzheng, large horizontal steles, wall-mounted steles expounding ethics, and a wordless stele; as well as merit steles buried underground with the deceased; Sino-Western combination obelisks; eunuch steles; and temple inscribed pillars. It can be called a microcosm of Beijing’s stele culture.

2. Merit Stele Exhibition Area: Located to the north of the throne, this area displays 12 steles dedicated to meritorious officials of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Among them is the Fu Heng Ancestral Hall Stele, which made great contributions to the Qing Dynasty and is considered an outstanding example of both form and carving.

3. Epitaph Exhibition Area: Displays 105 epitaphs from the Tang to Qing dynasties that record information on Beijing’s history, geography, politics, and more.

4. Artistic Stone Carving Area: Exhibits over 200 artistic stone carvings. Among them, the pillar and tablet from the Eastern Han Dynasty represent the oldest stone carvings in Beijing. Buddhist statues from the Northern Qi and Northern Wei dynasties hold high artistic value.

5. Guild Stele Exhibition Area: Showcases 53 guild steles from fellow-province and trade associations across eight provinces, including Shanxi, Henan, Anhui, and Zhejiang.

6. Temple Stele Exhibition Area: Contains 14 steles from temples, monasteries, and nunneries.

7. Stone Sculpture Exhibition Area: Displays 69 types of stone sculptures. One highlight is a Qing Dynasty stone ceremonial hall — a stone imitation wooden structure composed of over thirty sets of carvings, extremely exquisite.

8. Jesuit Stele Exhibition Area: Showcases 36 tombstones of foreign missionaries.

Take bus routes 320, 332, 717, 941, Yuntong 102, 105, 106, Te 4, or Te 6, get off at National Library Station, walk south, then head west along the small road on the north bank of the river for about 500 meters.

Phone: 010-62173543

Email: skgsjb@163.com

Address: No. 24, Wutasi Village, Haidian District, Beijing

Further reading:

· China's National Third-Class Museum