The ancient stone carving art museum in Heshui County, Qingyang, which is located in Longdong, is stunning

The ancient stone carving art museum in Heshui County, Qingyang, which is located in Longdong, is stunning. Heshui County, situated on the main route of Buddhist dissemination, has many ancient Buddhist relics such as grottoes and stone carvings, earning it the nickname 'County of Stone Sculptures.' Many of these grottoes remain relatively unknown and are difficult to visit for on-site research, such as the Baoquan Temple, Zhangjiagoumen, and Mashaochang carved during the Northern Wei period. Fortunately, the statues collected in this ancient Longdong stone carving art museum offer a glimpse into the past. I arrived around 4 p.m., hurriedly visiting the most exquisite Buddhist statue gallery before the museum closed at 5 p.m. The place is small, but it displays fine sculptures unearthed in Heshui from various periods ranging from the early Northern Wei to the Tang and Song dynasties, and then to the Ming and Qing dynasties, embodying the robust simplicity of the Northern Wei, the graceful elegance of the Tang, the serene realism of the Song and Jin, and the colorful splendor of the Ming and Qing styles, fully reflecting the glorious development of Buddhist sculpture art in the Longdong area. Upon close observation, it's noticeable that some Buddha heads have been recently restored, but the craftsmanship is of high quality and aesthetically pleasing. The majority of the sculptures are displayed without glass, and with excellent lighting, which is something photography enthusiasts understand... My personal favorites include several groups: √ Lotus petal-shaped stele: Northern Wei. The stele is shaped like a lotus petal, with a large lotus petal-shaped niche carved on the front and seven smaller lotus petal-shaped niches carved above the eyebrow of the niche, each containing a seated Buddha. The serene expressions and lifelike images of the seven Buddhas were carved with great skill. In 1993 and 1996, they represented the essence of Heshui's stone carving art and participated in the 'Silk Road Buddhist Art Exhibition' in Gansu Province, which was exhibited in Japan and the United States.