Site of the Wuyue Altar

Site of the Wuyue Altar

The Wuyue Altar Site is a Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Site of the Wuyue Altar (Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit)

Period: Five Dynasties

Designated: March 16, 2005

The Wuyue Altar, also known as the Worship Altar or Cloud Ascension Terrace, was built in the first year of the Longde era of the Later Liang Dynasty (921 AD) as a site where Qian Liu, King of the Wuyue Kingdom, performed heaven worship rituals. The remaining site is roughly divided into two levels, covering an area of about 2,000 square meters. The two terraces are connected by dozens of stone steps, with the mountain in between paved with neatly arranged rectangular large stone blocks, showing obvious signs of artificial construction. On both terraces, there are multiple historical relics scattered across different dynasties, such as the Linghua Cave, Dengyun Cave, "Zhu Tian Miao Cave," Sweet Dew Well, Noon Dream Bed, and nearly ten cliff inscriptions. Among them, the full inscription engraved by Qian Liu, King of the Wuyue Kingdom, to commemorate the construction of the altar reads: “In the first year of the Longde era of the Liang Dynasty, in the cyclical year Xin Si, on the first day of the eleventh month, on the day of Ren Wu, Qian Liu, the Celestial Marshal and King of the Wuyue Kingdom, ordered the establishment of this site.” It consists of 29 characters, arranged in four vertical columns with about seven characters per column. Each character is about 9 cm in size, with neat calligraphy and finely carved strokes. The discovery of this inscription confirms records about the Wuyue Altar found in historical texts such as the Chunyou Lin’an Annals, the West Lake Travel Guide, the Comprehensive Gazetteer of Geography, and the Epigraphic Records of Two Zhe Provinces. The Wuyue Altar Site provides rare physical historical material for studying the historical development of the Wuyue Kingdom and its ritual systems for heaven worship, as well as clues for identifying the location of the Southern Song Altar.

Source: Zhejiang Cultural Relics Website

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units