Aerial photography of Zhaoling: Li Shimin's mausoleum of Emperor Taizong.

Zhaoling is the burial tomb of Emperor Taizong and Wen Deshi. It was built on Jiuzhang Mountain, Liquan County, Xianyang City, which created a precedent for emperors in the Tang Dynasty to "rely on mountains as tombs". On March 4th, 196 1 was announced by the State Council as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Jiuzhang Mountain is located on the north side of Guanzhong Plain, with continuous ups and downs and magnificent momentum. The main peak is abrupt, with an altitude of 1 188 meters, and nine ridges are evenly distributed around it. In ancient times, the local people called the small ridge "Zhang Shan", hence the name "Jiuzhang Mountain". It is said that Zhaoling underground palace was dug between the slopes on the south slope of the main peak, and the specific location is unknown.

Due to the rugged road in the south of Jiuzhang Mountain, the emperor later offered sacrifices to Zhaoling, all of which were in Sima Gate in the north. There are not only sacrificial architectural sites in the Tang Dynasty, but also dozens of stone tablets dedicated to Zhaoling in previous dynasties. The famous stone carving of "Six Horses in Zhaoling" was erected here. On March 13, 2020, I operated my own drone and took an aerial photograph of Sima Gate in the north of Zhaoling.

Sima Gate, also known as Xuanwu Gate, is near the northern foot of Jiuzhang Mountain, facing south, with the south high and the north low. From August, 2002 to June, 5438+February, 2005, Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology conducted archaeological excavations here, and basically found out the layout and present situation of the site of North Sima Gate. The preservation is relatively complete, the building is symmetrical, the north and south rise, and there are walls around it. Later, combined with archaeological data, it was restored and displayed.

The plane of the North Simamen site is rectangular, about 90 meters long from north to south and 54 meters wide from east to west. It can be divided into two parts: the north of the gate is the outside, with three exits and the rectangular Ji Lang site with east-west symmetry; South of the door is the inside, and in the middle is the Hall of Enjoyment, where the clothes of Emperor Taizong and Li Shimin were once put. In the long corridors on the east and west sides, the pedestal replicas of "Six Horses in Zhaoling" and "The Commander of the Four Kingdoms" are symmetrically displayed.

The six horses carved here are six horses that Li Shimin rode before and after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty. They are called "Boxing Hair?" Shi Fakai, Bai Tiwu, teller, Qing, Salouzi. At that time, please ask Yan Lide and Yan to sculpt these six horses, write poems with their own hands and put them in front of the mausoleum. 19 14, "dew purple" and "fist hair?" Stolen and sold abroad, it is now in the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, USA, and the stone carvings of the other four horses are now in the Xi 'an Beilin Museum.

Now when you come to Zhaoling, you will go straight to the site of Beisimamen, and few people go to the main entrance on the south side of Jiuzhang Mountain. It is said that this place is called "Zhuque Gate", and there used to be a magnificent sacrifice hall and a halberd gate.

I flew a big circle on the south side of Jiuzhang Mountain by operating a drone, with the main peak soaring into the sky and ravines all around. According to the records of the Tang Dynasty, the Xuangong Palace in Zhaoling is 75 feet deep, cut in the south of the mountain, framed by a plank road, 230 steps around the mountain, leading to the entrance of Xuangong Palace. After Emperor Taizong was buried in Zhaoling, the plank road was demolished and Gong Xuan was isolated.