Architectural Features of Yongchang Bell and Drum Tower
Yongchang County, located in the east of Hexi Corridor, is an ancient city on the Silk Road, the main traffic artery between China and foreign countries during the Han and Tang Dynasties. Historically, Yongchang is a place where many nationalities live together, which is reflected in the Bell and Drum Tower, an ancient building that combines the multi-ethnic cultural styles of Mongolian and Chinese Tangut. 1. From the perspective of artistic modeling, the shape consists of three elements: roof, wooden frame and abutment, which follows the practice of the Han Dynasty and is one of the main characteristics of the architectural style of the Han Dynasty in China. Secondly, from the plane layout, the Bell and Drum Tower is located in the center of the city, which is in charge of the city's work and rest and night ban. It is the system of Yuan Dynasty and the layout of Mongolian architecture. Different from Song, Jin, Ming and Qing dynasties, the drum tower is in the east and the bell tower is in the west. Thirdly, from the architectural form, the roof with ceiling is one of the common shapes in Yuan Dynasty. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, many palaces in the Yuan Dynasty were demolished, but there was a Mongolian-style treasure dome on the bell and drum tower in Yongchang, which was unprecedented in the ancient buildings of the national style. Yongchang bell and drum tower has another feature, that is, it has added a top of eight diagrams and treasures, highlighting the popular theory of five elements; Fourth, the fence is divided into three grids, one under the handrail, with a pad pier in the middle and a small grid in the middle, which is filled with wood blocks and engraved with the pattern of rolling grass, and the next grid is filled with wood blocks and engraved with the pattern of falling clouds. This is the architectural style of Xixia Palace. In addition, there is a small bucket between the first and second straight colors in the three-story building, which is the architectural style of the Song Dynasty. Fifth, from the perspective of color painting, the columns, doors and windows are dark vermilion, and the archway is turquoise, that is, Qingsheng archway is Qingsheng archway, which is smudged with three green blue and white, and inked. The surface of the bucket arch is painted with red background and the blue-green flame is painted with three treasures, all of which are typical urban color styles of Ming Dynasty-rotating color painting.