(A) China people should write their own architectural history.
As a world-famous architect, Liang Sicheng's achievements are various, but the most important thing is the study of China's architectural history and theory. He is the pioneer and founder of this subject.
In the field of architecture, our ancestors left us a rich heritage, but unfortunately, it has never been scientifically summarized and studied. Liang Sicheng joined the Chinese Architectural Society in 193 1 and devoted his life to the study of ancient buildings in China. 1934, Liang Sicheng compiled the Qing-style Building Rules on the basis of a large number of investigations and studies. For the first time, he scientifically combed and analyzed the complex structure and shape of ancient buildings, introduced and discussed in detail the practices and systems of various parts of buildings in Qing Dynasty, and drew the detailed drawings and decorative paintings of building components in Qing Dynasty with modern projection drawings for the first time, so that people would not sigh about colorful ancient buildings.
/kloc-in the winter of 0/940, Architectural Society moved to Lizhuang Town, Nanxi County, Sichuan Province. During these years in Lizhuang, Liang began to systematically and comprehensively study the ancient architecture in China. It was on this basis that 1942, Liang Sicheng began to write the Architectural History of China. In this book, based on a large number of investigations and documents, Liang Sicheng describes the architecture of each period from documents to objects, from urban planning, palaces, tombs to temple gardens, and analyzes and compares the architectural characteristics of each period for the first time. Liang Sicheng put forward several features of ancient architecture in China for the first time, and analyzed the causes of these features from political, economic and cultural aspects. These discussions and analysis greatly exceeded the research level of foreign scholars in the past, and reached a height that predecessors did not reach. In order to facilitate foreigners to understand the ancient buildings in China, he also compiled the English version of "The History of Image Architecture in China".
1946 10 After War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Yale University invited Liang Sicheng to give a lecture. With the pride of a China person, rich content and exquisite analysis, Liang showed the cultural treasures of the Chinese nation to the international academic community and was awarded an honorary doctorate by Princeton University. Professor of Oriental Art at Harvard University, Rael, spoke highly of his "most valuable contribution to the understanding of China culture" and "not only described China, but also may become an important historical document". Joseph Needham, a world-famous scientist, quoted Liang's achievements in many places in his works, calling Liang Sicheng a master of studying ancient buildings in China. These achievements are inseparable from the collective construction of society. As the founder of China's architectural historiography theory, he and Liang have jointly led the literature research and social investigation for more than ten years. There are not many people in the society, and they have accumulated such rich materials in more than ten years. It is their hard work that makes the ancient buildings in China, the soul treasure of oriental culture, dust off their bodies and shine again in the forest of world culture.
(2) The founder of cultural relics protection in China.
Liang Sicheng has been engaged in the study of ancient buildings and the protection of cultural relics all his life. He investigated ancient buildings and discovered and revealed their value from the aspects of history, art and science. Because of these values, he also put forward opinions and measures to protect these cultural relics.
1932, Liang Sicheng specially wrote the part of "future protection" in the article "Examination of Guanyin Pavilion Mountain Gate of Dule Temple in Jixian County". He put forward: "the protection law should first arouse social concern and make people know the cultural value of architecture;" Understanding the value of Gemen in the cultural history of China and the architectural history of China is the fundamental way to protect it. This kind of understanding and understanding can't be achieved overnight, and its root lies in the improvement of people's education level ... "At the same time, it is especially advocated that" my humble opinion is to maintain the status quo as the best way to preserve ancient buildings, and the restoration part should not be implemented easily unless it is absolutely sure. " Then, in the inspection and restoration scheme of Confucius Temple in Pagoda of Six Harmonies and Qufu, the protection principles and specific restoration suggestions are put forward.
During his stay in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Liang Sicheng served as the director of the "War Zone Cultural Relics Preservation Committee". He put forward an ancient building project that needed to be protected, but there was no protection in the face of Japanese imperialist aggression. In the later period of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, when the United States was able to bomb Japan, Liang Sicheng wrote to the American Embassy in Chongqing, calling for the protection of famous ancient buildings in Nara, Kyoto and other places in Japan from destruction. Personally, Liang Sicheng's family suffered a lot in the war, so Lin lost his health. Lin's younger brother, an air force pilot, was killed in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, or Liang Sicheng's funeral. Of course, he hopes that Japan will be hit and the war will end as soon as possible. He did this because he thought that these architectural treasures in Japan belonged not only to Japan, but also to all mankind and should be protected. This is the concept of "world cultural heritage" today, so the Japanese people call Liang Sicheng a teacher to protect Japanese cultural relics.
1948, Haidian District, where Tsinghua University is located, was liberated. At this time, the People's Liberation Army surrounded Beijing from all directions, and once the negotiations with General Fu failed, it would attack the city by force. Just as Liang Sicheng and Lin were worried about attacking the city and destroying the ancient city of Beijing, the professor came to Liang Sicheng's home with two PLA cadres and asked Liang Sicheng to mark the locations of ancient buildings that must be protected on the map of Beijing. They told Liang that they would sacrifice their lives to protect the country's ancient buildings. Liang Sicheng completed this task with great excitement and pleasure. At the same time, he led the teachers of architecture department to quickly compile a list of important historical sites in the country, marked their important levels, and sent them to the central government for protection in the national liberation war. This list has become the blueprint for the first batch of key cultural relics protection projects in New China. It can be said that Liang Sicheng and Lin wrote the first chapter of cultural relics protection in New China.
China was founded in 1949, and Beijing was designated as the capital. Liang Sicheng knew that Beijing was about to start large-scale construction. At that time, he served as the deputy director of the Capital Planning Commission. In time, he and planning expert Chen Zhanxiang put forward the "Proposal on the Site Selection of the Administrative Center of the Central People's Government". They advocate building the administrative center of the government in the west of the ancient city of Beijing and turning it into a new area to avoid the contradiction between the old and the new, so as to protect the ancient city of Beijing more completely. This is based on the history of many countries in the world. At that time, some experts advocated the use of ancient city construction according to the national conditions in the early days of liberation. Liang's suggestion was not adopted, so Beijing began a new construction, so it will inevitably have a series of effects on cultural relics buildings due to the demolition of city walls and archways. Faced with this situation, Liang Sicheng called on all parties to write reports and publicize the value of ancient cultural relics, and put forward that the city wall can be used as a park around the city and open gaps to facilitate transportation and other protective measures; He pushed his way through the crowd and found Premier Zhou Enlai himself, successfully protecting Beihai and Yuanmingyuan, which was originally decided to be demolished.
In the 1960s, more and more cultural relics were protected and repaired. Liang Sicheng wrote "Repair and Maintenance of Bagua Cultural Relics Building" after inspecting some ancient buildings in Zhao Zhouqiao and Zhengding. In his article, he clearly put forward the idea of "repairing the old as the old": "I think that when rebuilding cultural relics with historical and artistic value, the principle of" repairing the old as the old "should generally be adopted. This may have many technical difficulties in rebuilding wood structures, but it is less when rebuilding masonry structures. "
Throughout Liang Sicheng's remarks and actions, we can clearly see his series of propositions and theories on the protection of cultural relics in China, as follows:
Liang Sicheng proposed to protect not only single architectural cultural relics, but also their environment. For those architectural groups with great value, even an ancient city, it is necessary to carry out overall protection.
Liang Sicheng pointed out that when repairing ancient buildings, it is generally necessary to "remain the same". In the renovation work, new technologies and materials should be adopted, but the original appearance of the ancient buildings must be maintained.
Liang Sicheng pointed out that the restoration of ancient buildings should be very cautious and must be handled by experts who know the business. On the basis of fully studying and understanding the original appearance of the building, we can compare various schemes before we can proceed.
Liang Sicheng pointed out that the protection of cultural relics is to make the past serve the present, but there are many different ways to use it.
1964 The Second International Congress of Historic Architects and Technicians held in Venice, Italy in May adopted the International Charter for the Protection and Restoration of Monuments, referred to as the Venice Charter. The Charter summarizes the experiences and lessons of countries around the world in protecting ancient buildings, and puts forward the principles and plans for the definition, protection, restoration and excavation of historical sites, which have been recognized by all countries in the world.
This charter puts forward some noteworthy things: the protection of historic sites includes the protection of certain environment; Relevant modern architecture and protection technologies can be adopted in the restoration; In any case, archaeological and historical research must be carried out before and after the restoration; The principle of using historical sites for public purposes is always conducive to the protection of historical sites and so on, which is completely consistent with Liang Sicheng's proposition. This is naturally not an accidental phenomenon, because Liang Sicheng has a profound understanding of the value of ancient Chinese and foreign architecture. Whether studying in the United States, studying in Europe or doing research at home, he pays attention to and studies the theory and practice of cultural relics protection, standing tall, seeing comprehensively and thinking far. Therefore, his thought must be universal and stand the test of history.
It is also worth noting that some of Liang Sicheng's views are not consistent with the Venice Charter. For example, the Charter stipulates that when repairing the missing part of a historic site, the repaired part must be different from the original stone, just like the Colosseum and the pillars of some historic sites we saw in Rome. The part of the Colosseum repaired with bricks or other materials is obviously different from the original stone; The stigma and column body of some stone pillars are damaged, and the appearance is obviously different after being filled with bricks, which is the principle of identifiability in restoration work. However, Liang Sicheng advocated that the repaired part should be in harmony with the original appearance. He greatly appreciated the repair method of the brick tower in Kannonji. The defective part is made of old bricks, and the old and the new are integrated. He believes that the style and personality of the tower have basically remained. In the renovation of Confucius Temple, if visitors get a completely different impression from the raw materials by using new materials, he also thinks that it should be avoided as much as possible, which may be Liang Sicheng's idea based on China's traditional aesthetic concept.
Practice has proved that Liang Sicheng is the pioneer and founder of cultural relics protection in China. He is not only world-class in theory, but also a brave soldier in practice. He has been looking forward to the birth of a China Charter-Beijing Charter, which not only conforms to the advanced theory of world cultural relics protection, but also combines with the reality of China.