千年传奇保国寺

徐学敏+邱明亮

2013年12月8日由我国国学泰斗、杭州西泠印社第七任社长饶宗颐先生撰写碑文的宁波保国寺大殿千年纪念碑揭幕。与此同时，宁波市第五个历史文化名城保护日活动也正式拉开帷幕。2013年是宁波保国寺大殿建成1000周年。宁波保国寺属1961年国务院公布的第一批全国重点文物保护单位，是宁波历史文化名城的代表性文化遗产。本次历史文化名城保护日系列活动的主题围绕“城市·建筑·文化”展开，内容包括文化志愿者诵读千年纪念碑碑文、文化遗产保

宁波保国寺鸟瞰全景图 A birds eye view of Baoguo Temple in Ningbo

护发展学术研讨、国际建筑师论坛报告、古建筑经典模型展览、城镇规划设计国际竞赛、国际友好合作签约等，给这座千年古建增添了浓厚的文化气息。

神奇古建

千岁之喜，举世关注。保国寺又名灵山寺，位于宁波市江北区洪塘镇北的灵山山腹之中，距宁波市区15公里。保国寺原寺创建于东汉，现存的保国寺大殿为北宋大中祥符六年（1013）重建，是中国现存最古老的木结构建筑之一，也是中国江南幸存的最古老最完整的木结构建筑。它由山门、天王殿、大殿等建筑组成，占地面积1.3万余平方米，建筑面积6000余平方米。

宁波保国寺大殿迄今整整有1000年了。保国寺大雄宝殿的建筑风格特异，巧夺天工，是保国寺建筑之精华。大雄宝殿是寺内主建筑，重檐歇山式，其面

35米）， .13（91米），进深三间 .阔三间（11

成纵向长方形。大雄宝殿气势雄伟，全部结构皆用斗拱裼巧妙衔接，并运用精确的榫卯技术，不用一钉而将建筑物的各个构件牢固地结合在一起，承托起整个殿堂屋顶的重量。大家都称它为无梁殿。为什么称无梁殿呢？因为这座大殿

在建筑上有其独到之处：平面布

置进深大于面阔，呈纵长方形；在

前槽天花板上绝妙地安置了三个

镂空藻井。它采用了复杂的斗拱结

构，斗拱与昂都用榫卯巧妙地衔

接在一起，不用一枚钉子，整座大

殿稳巧有致，有很好的防风抗震

能力；柱子的设计更是别具匠心，外观呈瓜棱状，柱心由四根小柱拼合，外面再包镶四瓣木条，既节约木材，又不影响牢固，且外形美观。

联合国教科文组织驻华代表评价称，保国寺大殿代表了世界范围内木结构文化遗产的骄傲，具有重要的历史、艺术和科学价值。它是宋《营造法式》的典型实例，反映了当时建筑的独特风格、在力学研究上达到较高水平。

这座木构殿宇在地震、台风、多雨、潮湿的环境、气候条件下得以保存1000年，这是人类建筑史上的奇迹！不知有多少专家学者望之感叹，思之敬仰。寻觅着隐藏其中的许许多多千古不解之谜。故宫博物院院长、中国文物学会会长单霁翔说：“在它的斗拱梁柱间，到底蕴藏着多少秘密？科学家们探寻的脚步一直没有停止过。”

飞鸟爱在梁上垒窝筑巢，蜘蛛也常在房架吐丝张网，年代越久远的建筑物，越能吸引飞鸟、昆虫前来栖息。然而，宁波的保国寺却是虫鸟的“天然禁区”。保国寺除了木结构建筑的一“奇”之外，另一“奇”就是大殿的每个角落不见鸟雀筑巢、蛛丝悬梁，更见不到虫蛀蚁蚀。原来大殿的建筑材料中，有一种带刺激性香味的黄桧，散发出为禽虫所畏闻的气味。也有一种说法是因为特殊的建筑结构而产生出声波振动的风流，从而驱逐了鸟雀虫类。

在上世纪50年代保国寺大殿的文物价值被发现之时，它已经是一座古代建筑的遗存，不再具有佛寺的功能。现在的保国寺更成为一座展示、传承、弘扬民族优秀古代建筑文化的博物馆，这种保护与利用的模式得到了国内外专家学者的高度评价，也得到了社会公众的普遍认同。

守望遗珍

保国寺大殿已经屹立了1000年，可谓是一部“凝固的木头写成的史书”，然而这部特殊的史书还能流传多少岁月呢？下一个1000年，这座神秘的古刹将如何更好地续写它的历史辉煌呢？

同济大学建筑与城市规划学院的一位教授对保国寺大殿进行了长期的监测，他认为保国寺文物建筑群虽然多年来一直不断地进行着保护和维修，然而由于文物建筑的特殊性，相比战争、火灾等，那些人们眼睛看不到的自然环境的种种不利因素，对保国寺文物建筑群有着持续的、难以避免的危害。

保国寺大殿需要合理维修已成了当今专家们的共识，但怎么修、何时修、什么样的维修才算是真正的保护，成了当前的重大课题。中国文物学会付清远副会长说：“保国寺大殿只要屋顶上不漏雨，地基不下沉，加强保养，很大程度上还可以再延续千年。我们的保护维修措施，要体现尽可能少的干预，坚持最大的保养。”

为了保国寺的下一个千年之约，有关部门正在大力推动科技保护，已经与国内建筑专业高等院校，如清华大学、东南大学、同济大学等建立了教学研究基地，并启动了与浙江大学合作的抗风压、载荷传感信息测量，共建保国寺大殿科技保护监测体系，实时对大殿进行全面的健康“体检”。保国寺博物馆方面表示，要坚持不懈地研究大殿营造技术与地理环境之谜，期望探索出一套系统的科学解答方法，为大殿维修制定相关技术标准，确保这座千年大殿“延年益寿”。

保国寺大雄宝殿被称为“无梁殿”，在台风、多雨、潮湿的江南环境中得以保存一千年，科学家评价：“这是人类建筑史上的奇迹。”

An external view of the Great Buddhas Hall， which has withstood the test of time for over 1，000 years. The wooden structure is widely regarded as a miracle of architecture.

Baoguo Temple – A Thousand-Year-

Long Legend

By Xu Xuemin & Qiu Mingliang

The grand opening of a special ceremony sponsored by the cultural administration au-thority of Ningbo in commemoration of the millennium of the Baoguo Temple， on Sep-tember 26， 2013， drew in a huge turnout and was attended by a galaxy of calligraphers and painting artists who contributed their share of the cultural aura of the osmanthus scented occasion.

Submission of calligraphy works and paintings for the 2013 millennium celebra-tion started in 2012. The resulting ‘thousand-meter-long painting scroll featured at the opening ceremony vividly unfolds the ar-chitectural， scenic and cultural charm of this thousand-year-old temple.

Also known as Lingshan Temple be-cause of its location in the hinterland of the Lingshan area in northern Hongtang Town， Jiangbei District， about 15km from down-town Ningbo， Baoguo Temple was built in the Eastern Han Dynasty （25-220AD）. The main hall of the extant structure was rebuilt in 1013 during the Northern Song （960-1127），

and is one of the oldest and best-conserved wooden temple structures in the southern banks of the Yangtze River area and in Chi-

na. Covering about an area of 13，000 square

meters， the temple complex has a build-up

area of about 6000 square meters and is now

under state-level protection.

Surviving numerous natural disasters and the atrocity of extreme weather over the past 1，000 years， the wooden structure is justifi-ably a miracle in the worlds history of archi-tecture. Generations of scholars and archi-tects have been confused， and enchanted， by the unfathomable enigma created by ancient artisans for their progeny to marvel at， if not see through.

One of the accidental findings by archae-ologists and architects involved in a recent renovation and protection project on the tem-ple that kicked off in June， 2013 is that 12 of the stone lotus-shaped plinths of this time-tested wooden structure were a legacy from the late Tang Dynasty （618-907） and early Northern Song Dynasty. Laid out symmetri-cally， the plinths serve as the column base of the Guanyin Hall of the temple， confirmed by experts from the Cultural Relics Preserva-tion Office of Ningbo and the Nanjing-based Southeast University.

The age-old temple is now listed， deserv-ingly， in the countrys first Cultural Relics Protection Directory issued by the State Council. The architectural essence of the structure is embodied by the Great Bud-dhas Hall. Serving as the centerpiece of the temple， the Great Buddhas Hall features a rectangle structure and a hipped roof with double eaves. Constructed entirely by a sys-tem of brackets inserted between the top of every column and crossbeam and perfected by the precision of traditional Chinese tenon-and-mortise expertise， the hall is a piece of art that is dubbed ‘a beamless hall.

Behind the aesthetic beauty and extremely elaborate structural mechanism achieved by ancient Chinese carpenters is the artistry that would leave any modern architect too infe-rior to bear comparison， making the temple a hallmark of the Song Dynasty architecture and a significant cultural， artistic and scientif-ic asset in the architectural history of China.

Cypress， a very special construction mate-rial used in the structure， creates a forbidden zone for spiders and birds， preventing the temple from being gnawed away by inhabit-ing birds and insects.

However， some experts attribute the

insect-resistant quality of the structure to the

sound wave vibrations generated structurally by the wooden compound itself.

Interestingly， the present-day Baoguo Temple does not fall into the conventional ‘temple category. It is now a ‘monk-less temple， or more precisely， a museum that makes one feel like walking around a sacred palace frozen in time.

The question is： Will the glory and beauty of the temple shine through another millen-nium？

According to a professor from the Architecture and Ur-ban Planning School of Tongji University who has been monitoring the ‘health status of the temple structure from the architectural angle for years， the biggest threats to the temple com-plex are not the fatal catastrophes as wars and fires but the seemingly insignificant adverse factors such as temperature and humidity.

Although the consensus that the temple -especially the Great Buddha Hall - is in need of refurbishment， has been reached， archeo-logical experts and architects have to work out concrete methods and procedures.

“We have enough scientific grounds to believe that the temple can maintain its re-splendence for another 1，000 years on the conditions that the roof can remain strong enough to ward off rain erosion and that the groundwork of the structure does not sink. The most important policy is ‘minimum inter-vention and maximum maintenance， so that the original structural system can be left alone to achieve longevity，” advised a deputy chair-man of Chinese Society of Cultural Relics.