雙語科技百科(工程建築) 第79期:應縣木塔
The Wooden Pagoda of Yingxian County
The real name of the Wooden Pagoda in Yingxian County, located in Fogong Temple in the northwestern corner of the county town of Yingxian, is Sakyamuni Pagoda. Since it was built completely of timber, it has been known popularly as the Wooden Pagoda of Yingxian County. It is the oldest wooden structure extant in China, and also the tallest among the ancient wooden buildings of the world. The pagoda was constructed during the Liao Dynasty. The Wooden Pagoda, nearly 70 meters high, is 30 meters in diameter and weighs over 2600 tons. Made up of at least 3,500 cubic meters of wood, the pagoda is octagonal in shape and contains nine floors, with four built-in stories not apparent from the outside. Built without the use of nails, the entire structure is solid, imposing, and elegant. Although built entirely with timber, the pagoda has weathered over 900 years of wind and rain, and withstood numerous strong earthquakes and wars. lts been recorded that there had occurred a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6. 5 0n the Richter scale 300 years after the pagoda was built. All the buildings around collapsed but the quake merely shook out some shingles from the pagoda's eaves. All this is due to its unique structure. The pagoda's multi-storey structure has given it the kind of stability resembling those in the modern wood texture is very soft, which won't easily twist under the outside many layers also reinforce the pagoda. Since the founding of New China in 1949, the government has dispatched many survey groups to conduct an on-site investigation into the pagoda and great efforts have been made to repair and reinforce the structure. During a repair project in 1974 a number of important and valuable cultural relics were found in the pagoda, including a picture of medicinal herbs and some Buddhist scriptures, all belonging to the Liao Dynasty. The scripture scrolls include both hand-written and block-printed ones, some of which are more than thirty meters long when spread out and can date back to as early as the year 990, 1003 0r 1071. They are regarded as rare treasures both at home and abroad, and provide important data not only for the collating of the Buddhist scriptures but also for the research of development of the printing technology and cultural exchanges among different nationalities in China. The temple is also widely extolled as an outstanding example of Chinese architecture.
應縣木塔地處應縣縣城西北的佛宮寺內，真名釋迦塔。因完全由木料建造，人們一般習慣稱其爲應縣木塔。它是我國現存年代最古老的一座木構建築，在世界古代木構建築中也是最高的。木塔建於遼代，近70米高，底層直徑30米，總重爲2600多噸。整個木塔至少使用木料3500立方米，呈八角形，共九層，其中內有四級暗層，從外部很難看出。整個木塔建築沒有使用一釘一鉚，結構堅實、氣勢恢弘，樣式別緻。儘管完全由木製建造，該塔卻經受住了900多年的風雨侵蝕，多次的強烈地震和戰爭。據記載，該塔建後300年，該地區曾發生里氏6.5級強震，震塌了周圍所有建築，但卻僅僅震落了塔檐的幾片木瓦。木塔的多層結構確保了其結構的穩固性，這堪與現代建築相媲美。所選用的木料質地柔軟，在外力作用下不易變形。木塔的多層結構也對其起到了穩固作用。1949年新中國成立後，政府多次派遣勘測組對該塔進行實地勘測，爲修復和加固該塔做出了很大努力。在1974年的一次修復工程中於木塔中發現大量珍貴文物，其中包括一幅藥草圖以及一些佛教經卷，均屬遼代。這些卷軸中有寫經刻經，其中一些展開後有30多米長，歷史可追溯到990年、1003年或1071年，在國內外堪稱稀世珍品，不僅爲佛教經卷的整理也爲中國印刷技術和各民族間文化交流的發展研究提供了重要資料。應縣木塔作爲中國建築的傑出典範廣爲世人稱讚。
