Luzhou Stone Carving Art Museum
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“A Thousand Years of Stone Resonance in Bashu; A Museum Tracing the Cultural Splendor of the Liquor City”
— The Southwest’s First Public Museum Dedicated Exclusively to Stone Carving Art
The Luzhou Stone Carving Art Museum is not a newly built facility but a revitalized historic site—the former ancestral hall complex attached to the Chen Family Chaste Widow Memorial Arch, a quintessential late-Qing official-style ancestral temple from southern Sichuan (originally constructed in 1897, the 23rd year of the Guangxu reign). This architectural ensemble was originally erected to honor Li Shi, wife of the late-Qing Confucian scholar Chen Tingbi of Luzhou, for her fidelity and dedication to raising their children. Blending ritual significance with regional character, it was designated a Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit of Luzhou in 2007.
In 2019, the Luzhou Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government launched the “Bashu Stone Carving Conservation and Utilization Project,” consolidating stone carving artifacts scattered across fields, temples, tombs, and museum collections throughout the city. Building upon this historic structure, they established a specialized museum dedicated to stone carving art. The museum officially opened to the public on December 28, 2022, becoming Sichuan Province’s first—and one of very few nationwide—municipal-level public museums devoted exclusively to stone carving art.
The museum’s main building underwent conservation-oriented restoration strictly adhering to the principles of “restoring as originally built” and “minimal intervention,” preserving intact the core layout and craftsmanship features characteristic of late-Qing ancestral temples in southern Sichuan:
The museum currently houses 1,286 pieces (sets) of stone carving artifacts, including 137 precious items (among them three Grade I national cultural relics and twenty-two Grade II national cultural relics), spanning the period from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Republic of China era. Its most academically significant holdings fall into three major categories: Song-Yuan Buddhist sculptures, Ming-Qing funerary stone carvings, and Qing-dynasty inscriptions related to liquor culture.
Southern Song “Epitaph Inscription for Mr. and Mrs. Zhang” (Grade I National Cultural Relic)
Excavated in 1992 from Jiangyang District, Luzhou, this bluestone epitaph bears 1,842 characters of finely carved regular script. It provides detailed documentation of the salt-and-liquor monopoly system and family migration history in Southern Song-era Luzhou, earning its reputation as “the foremost primary historical source on daily life in Song-dynasty Luzhou.”
Ming-Dynasty “Longnao Bridge Stone Carving Group” Fragments (Grade I National Cultural Relic)
Formerly part of the Longnao Bridge (a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit), these high-relief stone fragments depict mythical creatures including qilin, elephants, and white elephants. Their bold, vigorous carving technique and precise proportions exemplify the pinnacle of stone-carving craftsmanship in southern Sichuan.
Qing-Dynasty “Inscription Tablet Commemorating the Expansion of the Laojiao Cellars of Luzhou Daqu” (Grade II National Cultural Relic)
Erected in 1889 (the 15th year of the Guangxu reign), this tablet records the expansion of fermentation cellars at the Shu Juyuan distillery. It stands as the earliest extant physical textual evidence of Luzhou Laojiao, substantiating Luzhou’s status as the living source of the “Golden Triangle of Chinese Baijiu.”
Song-Dynasty “Seated Guanyin Bodhisattva Statue (Half-Crossed Legs)”
Carved from red sandstone and standing 1.38 meters tall, this statue displays a serene, full-featured countenance and fluid drapery evocative of the “Cao Yi” style (“clothes emerging from water”). Its halo is decorated with flame patterns and miniature Buddhas, representing the distinctive “Liu Ben” regional style of southern Sichuan and serving as a hallmark work of Song-dynasty Buddhist art in Luzhou.
Entrance Hall – Origins of Stone → Gallery I – Echoes of Han and Tang (Funerary & Religious Carvings) → Gallery II – Elegance of Song and Yuan (Luzhou Grottoes & Inscriptions) → Gallery III – Refined Gatherings of Ming and Qing (Memorial Arches, Academies, and Liquor-Related Carvings) → Temporary Exhibition Gallery – Contemporary Dialogues in Stone Art → Courtyard – Stone Carving Workshop Experience Zone🌊 Visitor Notice: Exhibits are maintained under constant temperature and humidity control. Some stone surfaces bear natural mineral crystalline layers—please refrain from touching. Photography is permitted (flash and tripods prohibited). Complimentary “Stone Resonance Tea”—inspired by a Song-dynasty tea inscription in the museum’s collection—is available onsite.
Luzhou Stone Carving Art Museum · Preserving Time in Stone, Transmitting the Cultural Heartbeat of Bashu
© 2024 Luzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism | Registration No.: SCICP 20220189XX