(MENAFN- GetNews)
With red walls
and
green trees, the Deshou Palace can present you with
a“spring scene”
though it is wintertime right now in Hangzhou. On November 14, the first media tour
was held in the spotlight
at the site of the Deshou Palace in the Southern Song Dynasty, which has been renovated
for nearly two years
and revitalized as a museum.
Two years ago
on December 28, 2020, the renovation work
commenced.
Located north of Wangjiang Road,
east of Zhonghe Middle Road,
and northeast of the Local Chronicles Museum, the Southern Song Deshou Palace Site Museum, the palace, which has cherished the memory
of the Song Dynasty royal family for more than 800 years, is like a time capsule and now it has been reopened again.
Time flips, but the grandeur of Song culture was not reduced to dust but shed light on the city through the ebb and flow. The
Southern Song Deshou Palace Site Museum
was built based on the original site of the Deshou Palace. The museum assumes the collective functions of
protection, research, collection, and display of the site itself and
cultural relics
unearthed.
It is a typical Song featured architecture that is the home to
the cultural heritage of the Southern Song Dynasty.
As one of the most regulated buildings in the Southern Song Dynasty, the Deshou Palace was located in the
first block of East Wangxian Bridge
Community, Lin'an City. In the thirty-second year of Shaoxing Reign (1162 AD), after the
abdication of
Emperor Gaozong, the Deshou Palace was built on the basis of
the original constructions here. The same thing went on for Emperor Xiaozong, who
also lived here
after his abdication.
The two generations lived here for a total of more than 40 years.
Located in the north of the imperial city“Nan Nei”, the Deshou Palace was thus named“Bei Nei”.
In its heyday, there were more than 270 buildings in the Deshou Palace.
The“Little West Lake” in the North Garden was divided into four major areas with spring, summer, autumn, and winter landscapes. The site was surrounded by
Zhijixiang Lane in the east, Wangjiang Road in the south, Zhonghe Middle Road in the west, and Meihua Tablet in the north, covering an area of no less than 110,000 square meters. It is undoubtedly the culmination of garden
and architecture of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Having witnessed the vicissitude of history for eight hundred years,
the Deshou Palace
is the first and largest
extant
royal architectural garden of the Southern Song Dynasty with the highest level of exposure.
Covering an area of 21,367 square meters, with a total construction area of 12,321 square meters, the Southern Song Deshou Palace Museum
is the first venue in China to systematically depict the full picture of the history and culture of the Southern Song Dynasty. Together with Yanguanxiang Southern Song Imperial Street Site and Laohudong Southern Song Dynasty Kiln Site, all
three are included in the top ten new archaeological discoveries in China. The excavation of the Deshou Palace enriches the meaning
of the discovery of the Lin'an City Site of the Southern Song Dynasty which is one of the hundred greatest archaeological discoveries of China
in recent one hundred years, and once again provides the public with access
to a
tangible
and concrete
touch on the aesthetics of
the
Song Dynasty.
After the site was revealed, the most extensive restoration research
and sustainable protection of the Deshou
Palace was put on the agenda.
But related tasks were also
confronted with thorny
problems such as how to achieve the maximum range of systematic protection of the architectural garden ruins of the Southern Song Dynasty in the humid environment,
how to overcome the obstacles
of a
limited number of architectural remains of the Song Dynasty and the lack of architectural examples of the royal palace of the Southern Song Dynasty.
After
assiduous
research and efforts, speculation about the restoration of the overall pattern of the Deshou Palace was finally
made.
Then in the original site, according to its original appearance and scale, the
Song featured
five-room palace architecture with pottery tiles, a wooden structure, and a single-eaved gable and hip roof, which assumed the function of site preservation and display was restored.
According to the introduction launched at the press conference, the Southern Song Deshou Palace Site Museum
has
five exhibition halls. They are the restoration display area of the Main hall of Chonghua Palace, the historical and cultural exhibition area of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Main Hall of Chonghua Palace Historical Site,
the archaeological achievements exhibition area of the Deshou Palace, the thematic exhibition area of the Southern Song Dynasty Lin'an City in the Main Hall of Cifu Palace, the main Hall of Cifu Palace and related exhibition area
of garden sites
.
In the media tour, many media workers generated such a feeling of“one step making a difference in the Palace
while
walking in the beauty of
the Song Dynasty charm.” And this is exactly the idea that has been put forward and prioritized throughout the
whole
process of conservation and restoration. In addition to the creation of natural scenery, technical experts have also improved the visual
effect
through the presentation of digital technology, and in this way,
the visitors and the historical site can draw closer.“It is to reproduce the beauty of the palace and the glory of the garden in the Southern Song Dynasty from multiple angles, at
close range and
with
cinematographic means, so that more people can understand the
beauty of
the Song and Hangzhou.” Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of garden and cultural relics deputy director Zhuo Jun emphasized.
In the central hall of the site museum, with three huge curtains as the background, the immersive virtual reality special effects are projected on the real historical site, bringing visitors the fabulous
visual enjoyment. The
combination of the virtual and the real makes people feel
as if be personally on the scene. The same technology is employed by the exhibition on the western side of the hall. Projection-light and water-pattern lights are projected on the site of the pool
and the aqueduct remains in the south. And a pool of virtual“clear water” winds its way from the Zhonghe River in the west to the lotus pond, causing ripples in circles.
The spectacle is a feast to the eyes of visitors. At the end of the activity, Shi Yunshu, deputy director of Shangcheng Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau and curator of the Southern Song Deshou Palace Site Museum, revealed that the museum would be officially open to public visitors for free in the near future. At that time, a special exhibition with the theme of“Treasures in Deshou, Splendor of Chonghua —
Cultural Relics Exhibition
of
the Song Dynasty” will be held, and a number of archaeological and cultural institutions in Zhejiang Province will display the delicate
artifacts of the Southern Song Dynasty.
The opening time is 9:30 — 17:00 every Tuesday to Sunday, and admission will be closed at 4:30 p.m. every day. Visitors can make reservations through the official WeChat account of the Deshou Palace. After the opening, there will be a one-month trial operation period, which will be open to making reservations for 500 people every day.
(Correspondents: Li Lingjing, Shen Xinning, Wang Zhe, Tang Liyu Journalists: Hu Yuxing, Tang Yuchen)