The architectural spaces in the Vatican Palace are independent and interrelated, and consist of a hall, a corridor hall, a tower hall, an altar, a three-story conference hall and a banquet hall for thousands of people. Exquisite woodcarvings carved in Dongyang, hand-painted murals by Dunhuang craftsmen, dazzling glass masterpieces, exquisite and elegant Ou Su relief murals, exquisite Yangzhou lacquerware, magnificent oil paintings, quaint and exquisite cloisonne sumeru lamps, exquisite Jingdezhen blue-and-white bucket pots ... These artistic treasures, which have gathered many cultural heritages and artistic treasures, are spread all over the various areas of the Vatican Palace in Lingshan, explaining the excellent traditional culture incisively and vividly, which is dizzying. Exodus: The altar of the Vatican Palace, which integrates functions of meetings and performances, can hold a large-scale international conference of 2,000 people. During the break, a large-scale situational performance "The Road to Awakening" directed and rehearsed by top domestic teams such as Lin Zhaohua and He Xuntian will be held every day, aiming at promoting traditional culture and enlightening spiritual wisdom. Groups of fantastic scenes will reproduce the magical and spectacular scenes like the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games, bringing unprecedented brand-new experiences and unforgettable cultural experiences to the audience.
◆ See the light but not the light.
Before entering the palace, the first thing that caught our eye was the white elephant in Buddhism. The pair of white elephants in front of us are from Myanmar and are typical white marble elephants. White elephants represent the sacred objects of God in Buddhism. There is a little-known "bright spot" in the Vatican Palace complex in Lingshan, that is, the lighting technology adopted by the Vatican Palace is "seeing the light but not seeing the light". In the "light, architecture, Buddhist culture", the architecture and lighting design of Vatican Palace are integrated, and the light source is hidden in it. The mystery of "seeing the light but not seeing the light" lies in the huge sinking of the roof. This sinking is a combination of different wood components layer by layer. By illuminating the back with wood carving components, visitors will feel the solemnity and mystery brought by the lighting, that is, the ingenuity of the lighting designer-"seeing the light but not seeing the light". The large-scale series of oil paintings here will take the spread, exchange and development of Buddhism as the theme, and draw a clear and magnificent picture of Buddhist history. This time, Lingshan Palace Gallery Hall used oil painting techniques to express such a large-scale Buddhist art work with lofty ideas, grand length and rich connotations, which is not only an unprecedented initiative in the history of Buddhism, but also a highlight in the history of fine arts in China and a masterpiece in the history of Buddhist culture and art in China.
◆ The relief is magnificent, and the precious wood is reborn.
Exquisite and gorgeous rare trees are reborn. The indoor wood carvings in the Vatican Palace are mainly made of precious nanmu. Through exquisite Dongyang woodcarving skills and elements such as flowers, moire patterns, four spirits and back shapes, it fully embodies the appeal of China traditional culture for auspiciousness and blessing, and is connected with architecture and Buddhist culture. The sculpt is accurate and vivid, and the high relief that is almost round carving makes the sense of volume unparalleled through the delicate and complicated compression relationship. At the same time, the application categories are extremely rich, from the nearly four-meter-high white woodcarving bottle, the two-person-high gilded Buddha statue to the small sumeru on the handrail of the stairs, all of which are exquisitely carved, with continuous wooden lattices and vivid images. Especially in corridors and tower halls, a large number of Dongyang woodcarving building components and decorative components, such as falcon-connected "brackets" and bucket arches, are integrated into the artistic atmosphere and architectural functions. Gallery and tower hall are also the most important and concentrated areas for this kind of wood carving decoration. Especially in the upper part, every beam and column should be carved with auspicious patterns or Buddhist stories, and every floor of the tower hall is carved everywhere, especially the curved ceiling will be densely covered with flying patterns. The decorative area of woodcarving in the whole Lingshan Gong Fan reaches10.5 million square meters, and logs are used10.4 million cubic meters. Even the 60-meter-high part of Van Gogh is expressed by the most meticulous techniques, from the creation of woodcarving drawings to the 20 processes of processing, cutting, deep carving, rough carving, fine carving, polishing and gold plating of logs. The most difficult part of this construction is not the design and processing, but the installation. First of all, individual components are too big, and many individual components weigh thousands of kilograms. Because it is indoor construction, it is impossible to use cranes, and the labor cost can be imagined. Secondly, the space is too large, and the spatial scale of the Vatican Palace is unprecedented in the process of dongyang woodcarving decoration. Finally, in such a large space, there are no appendages to place wood carving components. According to Lu, a master of arts and crafts in China who is in charge of the woodcarving project, the woodcarving group is the largest project since Dongyang woodcarving undertook the woodcarving project of the Forbidden City in the Qing Dynasty. ...
◆ Dongyang woodcarving
Judging from the three comprehensive standards of volume, process complexity and application category, the wood carving elements in the Vatican Palace are undoubtedly in the top position. No wonder Master Lu gathered more than a thousand skilled craftsmen for more than a year, sweating profusely for them, and exchanged 23 railway wagons for 15000 square meters of breathtaking Dongyang woodcarving.
◆ Zhu Bingren bronze sculpture
If you have been to the Vatican Palace in Lingshan, you will remember the bronze sculpture Maitreya, a masterpiece handed down from generation to generation. "Maitreya, a hundred schools of thought in the world" is one of the Buddhist landscapes at the foot of Wuxi Lingshan, which was carefully created and planned by China arts and crafts master Zhu Bingren. The whole Buddha statue is 8.5 meters long and made of giant cast copper. When the base was carved, I saw Maitreya reclining, clutching the beads with his left hand, smiling and earlobe. On Maitreya, there are a whole hundred little urchins playing, each with a different shape and spirit, lifelike. The children played tricks on the Buddha by breaking arhats, tug-of-war, urinating and stabbing Maitreya's navel with branches. After all, Maitreya Buddha is full of fun without support, which reflects the inclusiveness of Maitreya.
The art of Maitreya, an ancient philosopher, implicitly depicts Maitreya's unique character of "tolerating the unbearable things in the world and laughing at the ridiculous people in the world", which is exactly Zhu Bingren's vivid creativity and artistic exaggeration. "Maitreya Buddha" has won a national patent. And won the "200 1 Hong Kong International Patent Expo Gold Award" and "World Scientific Development Achievement Award".
◆ Sky map
The sky map was created by Hou Liming, president of Dunhuang Academy of Fine Arts. Drawing the decorative dome painting in the Vatican Palace in Lingshan is the biggest drawing task they have undertaken so far, and the drawing process almost brings together dozens of painters representing the highest level of Dunhuang mural creation at present. The mural "Sky Map" of the Vatican Palace in Lingshan, combined with the unique architectural form of the vault, is based on the Dalagni Sutra of "The Buddha says that it shines, weather is different and auspicious" translated by Master Bukong in the Tang Dynasty, and is composed of the blazing Buddha, the full picture of the nine Yao stars and the zodiac as the main elements. The center of the circle is the blazing Buddha, the inner circle is the Nine Obsidian Star, and the outer circle is the zodiac, which is arranged in the whole dome in three layers at one time. The patterns of the twenty-eight nights are scattered, and the unique patterns of Buddhist culture such as Feitian, Lotus and grape grain are organically combined with the whole picture. The four corners of each dome have a flying sky to protect the four directions. The whole work presents a picture of the sky in all directions. The sky is bright and beautiful, the sky is soaring, the clouds are ethereal and the smallpox is spinning, which highlights the dynamic intention of the astronomical map and shows the astronomical illusion of the Buddhist Datura. Considering the overall decorative function of the murals in the Vatican Palace in Lingshan and the cultural connotation to be displayed, the astronomical map does not overemphasize the significance of astronomy, but pays attention to the significance of Buddhism and artistic expression, and uses the vast picture space to pursue dynamic trends in stability, forming a solidified but not stagnant, flowing but not sloppy picture. In order to show the colorful art forms and echo the surrounding environment, the murals are mainly in the Tang Dynasty, with golden brown as the main tone, and precious flowers, lotus flowers and other elements are used. In order to better integrate the ethereal spirit of Buddhism with the illusion of astronomical phenomena, while inheriting and developing the characteristics of Dunhuang murals, the creation of astronomical phenomena is simplified in terms of patterns and colors, so that the graphics are independent and related, and the dome is full of ups and downs of architectural beauty, creating a solemn, luxurious, harmonious and beautiful Buddhist artistic atmosphere, thus showing the charm of oriental Buddhist culture. The choice of style is because Dunhuang Tang Dynasty art represents the worst era of Buddhist art in China, and it is also an important era in which Chinese and Western culture and art complement each other. After inheritance, development and innovation, the mural art in the Tang Dynasty can be described as a wonderful flower in the art garden. Only by combining the artistic style of this period to create the sky map can we reflect the perfect style of luxury, harmony and atmosphere, and finally present a beautiful masterpiece.