More than 70 rubbings of ancient carvings from the Wu Family Shrines, inscriptions from Longmen Grottoes, and Buddhist statues from other grottoes and temples are on display at the Futian Art Museum. Entry is free.
The Wu Family Shrines, of which the Wu Liang Shrine is the best known, was the family shrine of the Wu clan of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). The shrines contain a vast number of relief carvings, which are a series of organized pictorial elements and inscriptions. The stone reliefs have been studied since the Song Dynasty (960-1279) through ink rubbings of their surface decoration and inscriptions.
A rubbing of stone carvings in the Wu Family Shrines. Photo from WeChat account “ftwtzx”
Longmen Grottoes is the largest stone-carving art treasury and contains the world’s largest collection of Buddhist statues. It also can be considered as the finest representative of the imperial grottoes art during the Northern Wei (386-534) and Tang (618-907) dynasties. Alongside the Yi River, the cliff walls studded with grottoes stretch for up to one kilometer, and there are currently more than 2,300 niches, 110,000 statues and 2,860 steles with inscriptions. In 2000, the UNESCO added Longmen Grottoes to the World Heritage List.
Dates: Until March 31
Hours: 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
Venue: Futian Art Museum, 5 Meidong Road 2, Futian District (福田区梅东二路5号福田美术馆)
Metro: Line 10 to Maling Station (孖岭站), Exit D