has been wandering for a hundred years, and seven stone pillar cultural relics have returned to the embrace of the motherland. This is another batch of important cultural relics lost overseas to return to the Old Summer Palace after the bronze statue of Ma Shou. Recently, the Old Summer Palace Stone Pillar Return Exhibition opened at the Old Summer Palace Museum in Beijing. Seven stone pillar cultural relics will be exhibited on the top floor of Zhengjue Temple in the Old Summer Palace Ruins Park for a long time. Where did the seven stone pillars originally stand? Why did they lose overseas? How did all walks of life join hands to promote the return of cultural relics after 10 years?
traceability: the original Yuanmingyuan building components
at the exhibition site, the reporter saw that the seven stone pillars returned this time were all made of white marble, with a height of about 80cm to 92cm. The facade was carved and had a good appearance. The front decorations of these stone pillars are mainly western-style flowers, shell patterns and other western carvings, while the bouquets in the side vases are mainly Chinese traditional flowers such as peony, lotus and chrysanthemum, which have auspicious meanings, reflecting the cultural connotation of the combination of Chinese and Western culture. , experts believe that the seven stone pillars were originally architectural components of Yuanmingyuan, and they are all presumed to be from the site area of Xiyanglou. The Yuanmingyuan Western Building is based on wooden beams and columns, and is built by building the inner wall with bricks and the outer wall with white marble and other stone materials. The main body of the building is built in the western Baroque style, and stone pillars are often set up on the building as looking pillars or railings to connect them, and at the same time, they also have the function of decoration. The stone pillars without carvings on both sides shall be the row decoration on the building, and the stone pillars decorated with vases or patterns on both sides shall be used for the railings of stairs or floor platforms, and the vases shall be carved to match the shape of the railings. At present, in the Yuanmingyuan Tianxin water surface stone cultural relics exhibition area, the remnant carving contemplation stone cultural relics exhibition area, etc., are showing the Yuanmingyuan stone pillar cultural relics with rich shapes and various decorations. The overall shape of these seven returned stone pillar cultural relics is unified and the details are different. By comparison, their decorations and shapes are very similar to those of some existing stone pillar cultural relics in Yuanmingyuan. loss: a hundred years of tossing and turning During the Second Opium War in 1860, the British and French allied forces looted the Yuanmingyuan and other royal gardens. Yuanmingyuan's building components, mountain stone inscriptions, etc. were plundered and appeared in the circulation market. John William Norman Monte, a Norwegian who lives and works in China, has a keen interest in Chinese cultural relics and has collected many Chinese artworks through various channels. 1907, Monte visited the Museum of Decorative Art of West Norway (one of the forerunners of the Coder Museum) in Bergen, Norway, and from then on until his death in 1935, he had transported his collection to the museum several times. In 1926, Monte tried to sell part of the collection to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in order to obtain funds to support his collection of Chinese art in Bergen. But in the end, only part of the collection was sold, and the rest was stranded in the United States, including the Yuanmingyuan pillars. From 1961 to 1964, the stranded collection was donated to the Museum of Decorative Arts in West Norway for its collection and exhibition. Since then, these stone pillars have been displayed in the exhibition hall of the museum. : A Ten-Year Journey In August 2013, Huang Nubo, the founder of Beijing Zhongkun Investment Group Co., Ltd., visited the Kede Museum and saw the stone pillars on display, even though he expressed his wish to go home. After repeated discussions, the Cod Museum reached an agreement on the return of the stone pillar cultural relics to the hometown. In December 2013, Beijing Zhongkun Investment Group Co., Ltd., Peking University and the Kede Museum signed a tripartite cooperation agreement, agreeing to ship seven stone pillars back to China and carry out cultural exchange activities. , the State Administration of Cultural Heritage continued to pay attention to the progress of the incident, provided many times of guidance on the procedures for the declaration of cultural relics, and maintained communication with the Ministry of Finance, and continued to promote the expansion of the coverage of the tax exemption policy for imported collections by state-owned public welfare collection units, and strive to make this batch of stone pillars. Cultural relics will be shipped back to China as soon as possible. In April 2018, the Norwegian Ministry of Culture reviewed and approved the exit permit of the Kode Museum for the stone pillar cultural relics and agreed to return them to China. In March 2023, with the support of the Cod Museum, Beijing Zhongkun Investment Group Co., Ltd. shipped it out of the Norwegian port of Bergen and back to China. to June 2023, under the promotion of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the State Administration of Cultural relics, and with the close cooperation of the General Administration of Customs, with the joint efforts of Beijing Customs, Tianjin Customs, Tianjin Administration of National Cultural relics entry and exit examination, Peking University, Beijing Lu Xun Museum (Beijing New Culture Movement Memorial Hall), Beijing Municipal Bureau of Cultural relics, and Beijing Haidian District Yuanmingyuan Administration, seven stone pillar cultural relics entered the country smoothly. On June 20, seven stone pillar cultural relics with a total weight of more than 2.6 tons arrived in Beijing safely. On June 21, the cultural relics were handed over to the warehouse in Yuanmingyuan. , the State Administration of Cultural Heritage organized experts from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Palace Museum, and Peking University to carry out physical appraisal. Experts agreed: "This group of cultural relics is relatively well preserved, with slight weathering traces, and can be classified as genuine according to the craftsmanship, decoration and material conditions." in the process of returning the seven stone pillar cultural relics, social forces generously contributed, took the initiative to act, institutions of higher learning enthusiastic support, suggestions and suggestions, national multi-department overall planning and guidance, escort, relevant protection agencies to perform their duties wholeheartedly, courage to take responsibility, close cooperation between all parties, finally promoted the return of stone pillar cultural relics, and created a new mode and opened up a new path for social forces to help return lost cultural relics in the new era. It is reported that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, 37 batches and more than 1800 lost overseas Chinese cultural relics have returned to the motherland, involving 13 countries and regions including the United States, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Australia. source: China culture newspaper