Shanxi, Yuncheng | Yongle Palace

Yongle Palace is located at the east of Longquan Village, Ruicheng County, Shanxi Province. It is a national key cultural relic protection unit. Originally named Dachunyang Wanshou Palace, it is a Taoist temple dedicated to the worship of Lü Dongbin.

Yongle Palace was built in the Yuan Dynasty, with a construction period of over 110 years. Along the central axis are four grand buildings: the Dragon and Tiger Hall, the Sanqing Hall, the Chunyang Hall, and the Chongyang Hall. It absorbed the Song Dynasty's 'Methods of Architecture' and the 'reduced-column method' of the Liao and Jin periods, forming its own unique style.

Yongle Palace is renowned for its murals, which can rival the Mogao Grottoes murals.Its high artistic value and large quantity are extremely rare in the world.The Sanqing Hall is the main hall of Yongle Palace, and inside, the mural "Morning Audience with the Celestial Emperor" depicts a grand procession for worship. The mural features a total of 286 celestial beings, with a height of 4.26 meters and a length of 94.68 meters. Covering a total area of 403.34 square meters, it is one of the rare masterpieces in the history of world painting.

It's hard to imagine that the current Yongle Palace took over five years to relocate from the north bank of the Yellow River in the southwest of Ruicheng County due to the construction of the Sanmenxia Reservoir in 1959.At that time, a special method involving manual sawing was used to cut the murals into over 550 pieces, which were then numbered and reassembled.The seams of the reconstructed murals were nearly impossible to discern. We have to admire the experts forachieving a feat that even immortals would find difficult to accomplish.

Source: Official website of Shanxi Provincial People's Government