Pan gate
The Pan Gate ( Chinese 盤 門 / 盘 门 , Pinyin Pánmén ) is located in the southwest of the historical district of Suzhou in the east of the People's Republic of China . It was first built as part of the city wall around 2500 years ago during the spring and autumn annals and is a combined city gate for land and water. Its shape has remained largely the same as the original building and is therefore of great historical value. Today it is one of the most important monuments in the city and is accordingly a tourist magnet.
In 514 BC King Helü of the state of Wu ordered that Wu Zixu should build a large city of Helü with tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in order to better administer the land and the people and to be able to subdue the other despots . The city should get a city wall with eight gates, one for each wind direction. The Pan Gate is one of the gates that have been preserved. It is one of the best preserved land and water gates in China; it allowed passage both by land and by water. Its original name was 蟠 门 (Pánmén), derived from the mythical figure Panlong (蟠龙). Only in the course of time did it become 盘 门, derived from 盘 曲 (snake, zigzag).
Although it has been damaged and repaired several times in its 2500 year history, its location and shape have largely been preserved as intended by Wu Zixu. This and the neighboring segments of the city wall make the Pan Gate a historically valuable architectural monument, it is a typical city gate for access to a Chinese city by land and water.
The city wall was built as an earth wall in Wu Zixu's time, it was only later made of bricks. For access by land, there is an outer and an inner gate, which are offset from one another. In between is an almost rectangular barbican that was added during the Yuan Dynasty when Zhang Shicheng occupied the city. Its sides, around 177 meters long, are surrounded by 8.1 meter high walls. On the water, the way into the city leads through two stone arches on the south side of the land gate with a passage of 24.5 meters in length. This passage had lock gates outside and inside that protected the city from attacks and floods. The pavilion above the Land Gate burned down during the Sino-Japanese War and was rebuilt from photos that survived the war in the Nanjing Museum . The boards above the land gates are provided with the inscriptions “中 吴 锁钥” ( strategic passage in Wu ) and “水陆 萦回” ( linger on land and water ). The inscriptions are from modern times and were created in Zhangcao calligraphy by the artist Wang Quchang . The gate is also equipped with defensive systems such as battlements , loopholes , chain hoists for the gates and fire fighting systems.
The Pan Gate in its current form was secured, repaired and opened to the public in 1986. It has been part of the Suzhou City Cultural Property since 1963 and the Jiangsu Province Cultural Property since 1982. In 2006 it was declared a Monument of the People's Republic of China . For tourist purposes, it is grouped together with the Ruiguang Pagoda , Wu Gate Bridge and other landmarks to form the Pan Gate Scenic Area complex .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d 郁乃尧: 漫话 苏州 古 城墙 的 变迁 . In: 江苏 地 方志 . December 11, 2017, p. 8 (Chinese, gov.cn ).
- ↑ a b c d e 国家 文物 局 (Ed.): 全国 重点 文物保护 单位 (第六批) . 1st edition. tape 5 . 文物 出版社, Beijing 2008, ISBN 978-7-5010-2446-9 , pp. 55 (Chinese).
Coordinates: 31 ° 17 ′ 21 ″ N , 120 ° 36 ′ 43 ″ E