Luopanzui Tomb Cluster

Luopanzui Tomb Cluster

The Luopanzui Tomb Cluster is a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level.

The Luopanzui Tomb Cluster is located in Luzhou County, Luzhou City, Sichuan Province, covering an area of approximately 450 square meters. It is one of the Song Dynasty tombs in Luzhou County, with carvings primarily featuring warriors, the Four Symbols, musicians and performers, attendants, and composite themes.

In 2013, the Luopanzui Tomb Cluster was designated as part of the seventh group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level.

The tombs are vertical pit-style stone chambers with wooden structural imitation, oriented from northeast to southwest, and feature a rectangular floor plan. Each tomb consists of a passage, entrance, main chamber, and ceiling.

Cultural Relics

Four tombs have been exposed within the Luopanzui Tomb Cluster. Among them, the M2 tomb chamber is the most intact, with an epitaph clearly dated to the 13th year of the Chunxi era (1186 AD) during the Southern Song Dynasty’s Emperor Xiaozong’s reign. The M2 tomb chamber measures 2.9 meters in length, 1.25 meters in width, and 2.58 meters in height. The side niche of the tomb chamber features high-relief carvings of floral door panels, while the rear niche depicts a female attendant. The front face of the horizontal beam on the rear wall is inscribed with the epitaph. The chamber floor includes a coffin platform and has a domed ceiling. On either side of the tomb entrance, the door pillars are adorned with high-relief carvings of guardian warriors, one on each side. The left warrior wears a helmet, dons armor, glares fiercely, holds a bow in the left hand and an arrow in the right, and stands with boots planted on a stone base. The right warrior holds an axe in both hands, with a sword at his side, appearing ready for battle.

Cultural Value

The Luopanzui Tomb Cluster provides valuable physical materials for the archaeological study of Southern Song Dynasty stone-chamber tombs in the Sichuan Basin. It reflects the economic, political, and social conditions of Luzhou County during the Southern Song period. The stone carvings imitating wooden structures serve as evidence of the architectural styles and construction methods documented in the Yingzao Fashi (Treatise on Architectural Methods) and representative of Song Dynasty architecture. The diverse and exquisitely crafted carvings offer important insights for the study of Chinese stone carving art.

Protection Boundary: A 50-meter buffer zone extends beyond the distribution area of the tombs.

Construction Control Zone: East to Xiadachong, west to Songlinwan, south to Yuamen Temple, southwest to Guiyuan Mountain, and north to Wanfangzi.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level