Daming County Stone Carving Museum

Daming County Stone Carving Museum

Daming County Stone Carving Museum is a national AA-level tourist attraction and a cultural tourism site.

Daming County Stone Carving Museum covers an area of 15 mu and is an AA-level tourist attraction. It currently houses over 200 stone carvings, including China’s largest ancient stele — the “Five Rites Stele.” The art of stone carving in Daming has a long history; as early as 8,000 years ago, the people of Cishan created primitive stone carving forms such as stone grinding plates and rollers. In the Handan area, there are still preserved extremely precious Han Dynasty inscriptions such as the “Group of Ministers Ascend?” and the “Zhao State Yiyang Southern Boundary” stone carvings. During the Northern Dynasties, Ye City once became the Buddhist center of northern China, leaving behind the Northern and Southern Xiangtang Grottoes and numerous individual stone statues, creating the “Northern Qi style” of Buddhist statue art, which had a profound influence on statue art after the Sui and Tang dynasties.

Daming County Stone Carving Museum also features the Horse Wenshuo Spirit Way Stele, which pioneered the running script style in Chinese stele inscriptions, as well as the Zhu Xi Scripture Inscription Stele, the Chengzi Admonition Tablet, and the Memorial Stele for the Family of Chen Empress from the Ming Dynasty's Jiajing era. The exhibition centers on the stone carving cultural heritage of Handan, using physical objects, photographs, charts, rubbings, texts, and videos as mediums, and follows the thread of historical development to systematically showcase the stone carving art of the Handan region from the Northern Dynasties to the Song Dynasty. The exhibition is divided into four sections: Northern Dynasties Statues, Sui and Tang Statues, Five Dynasties and Song Statues, and Northern Dynasties Scripture Rubbings. The exhibition hall covers an area of 600 square meters, displaying over 70 pieces of premium cultural relics and 86 images of grotto statues. Among them, the white marble statues from Ye City and the red sandstone statues from Changle Temple are particularly exquisite.

The art of stone carving in Handan has a long history; as early as 8,000 years ago, the people of Cishan created primitive stone carving forms such as stone grinding plates and rollers. In the Handan area, there are still preserved extremely precious Han Dynasty inscriptions such as the “Group of Ministers Ascend?” and the “Zhao State Yiyang Southern Boundary” stone carvings. During the Northern Dynasties, Ye City once became the Buddhist center of northern China, leaving behind the Northern and Southern Xiangtang Grottoes and numerous individual stone statues, creating the “Northern Qi style” of Buddhist statue art, which had a profound influence on statue art after the Sui and Tang dynasties.

The north corridor of the museum mainly displays 25 stone tablets from the Tang Dynasty to the Republic of China period. The north end of the east corridor houses 11 stone tablets and 38 epitaphs, while the west corridor features over 60 stone tablets inscribed with stories, historical materials, and explanatory texts about Daming, written by modern calligraphers from Daming. At the center of the museum stands the “Five Rites Stele,” and the floor displays over 20 other tablets and stone carvings, all of which are highly valuable for viewing.