Basic introduction of Wenchang tower

Wenchang Tower, located on the north bank of Hengjiang River outside the small south gate of the county town, faces Maanshan Steel City across the river in the east, Tianmen Mountain in the south and Zhenhuaifu as a guest arch in the north. This tower was built by Guo in the 28th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1600). Later generations said that this tower was built in memory of Zhang Wenchang, a poet in Central Tang Zhou. However, according to the Wenchang Tower written by Jiao Hong, the top scholar at that time, "Duke Guo of Liyang County was in power for three years, and the peasants played in the wild, and the scholars advised them to learn and asked the people about their sufferings, but they did not donate money. Salty, they said: the county water leaked from the southeast, and its shape was unprepared and not long. Scholars don't go to court, and words of good faith are tried and tested. I am willing to build a pagoda to win with strength. " It can be seen that at that time, due to the belief in Feng Shui superstition, the southeast of the state capital was flooded, the style of writing was unprepared, and the style of writing was depressed. So this tower was built for the prosperity of Wen Feng. In the forty-five years of Qingganlong (1780), Hezhou and Hehe rebuilt this tower; 1922, Liu Dongfu, the governor of Hexian County, rebuilt it again, and set up a monument to rebuild Wenchang Pagoda (written by Zhang Boxi and A Tsinghua). There is also a temple of Guo Gong in the east of the tower. There is a "Sibei" in the temple to commemorate Guo's achievements in building Wenchang Tower. Taoist priests lived in the temple to protect the tower.

Wenchang Tower has 7 floors, with brick and wood structure, more than 30 meters high, hexagonal outside and square inside, with the tower door facing south. Outside each floor, a brick bucket arch hangs over the eaves, supported by wooden columns and tiled with wooden boards. Above the tower gate, there is a brick carving figure, carp yue longmen. Starting from the second floor, there are six brick doors on each side and each floor from bottom to top, which are alternately opened and closed horizontally. On the second floor, above the hexagonal gate and under the tower eaves, brick carvings such as "stepping on toads and fighting" and "swallowing clouds and seeing Han" are written in block letters from right to left. There is a pot (commonly known as an iron pot) on the top of the tower, and a conical roof made of bricks is under the roof, and a small tile is under the roof. There is a wooden ladder on the ground floor of the first floor, which can spiral up and climb to the top of the seventh floor to have a bird's eye view of the rivers and mountains.

In the past 400 years, Wenchang Tower has been eroded by wind and rain and destroyed by war. When the Japanese invaded, Japanese ships shelled Wenchang Tower on the sea surface of Jinhekou. Although the tower was hit, it didn't fall down because of its solid foundation. Now, there is a bullet hole in the northeast of the tower. Because this tower is located in the sedimentary gravel stratum and has been inclined to the northeast for a long time, it has also attracted some legends and comments. For example, someone commented in the newspaper that Wenchang Tower is one of the leaning towers in China. In April 1982 and 1, Wenchang Tower was designated as a key cultural relic protection unit by the county people's government. 1April, 985, the wooden structure in the tower caught fire because of naughty children, and was rescued and put out by the fire brigade. 1986165438+1October, the county people's government allocated funds to strengthen and maintain Wenchang Tower, so that it still stands tall in the sky, hoping that the style of writing and the country will be more prosperous in the new era.