The 19 models that will be on display at the Museum of Architecture, will showcase the ancient architectural styles of Chinese public houses, along with photographs, architectural surveys, and the correspnding explanations.
In the initial stages, almost all public buildings in China were built according to a particular construction system having huge, curved hip roof rests on wooden posts, with wide overhanging eaves and tile covering, supported by an elaborate wooden construction, creating an elastic wooden framework that could absorb strong vibrations of earthquakes. This construction system allowed many historical buildings to bear natural catastrophes, hence wooden constructions of the eighth century still exist today.
The exhibition of the Architekturmuseum shows 19 of these models, among them, the detailed models of the bracket system (Dougong), the reproductions of the oldest timber constructions existing in China, such as the Nanchan temple (Tang dynasty, Wutai, Shanxi), the Foguang temple (Tang Dynasty, Wutai, Shanxi), and the Guanyin hall of the Dule monastery (Liao Dynasty, Tianjin, Jixin), which endured 28 earthquakes, including that of 1679, with no other building apart from this hall surviving in the area till today.
The exhibition also features the models of the 300 meter long complex of the Yongle palace in Ruicheng (Yuan dynasty, Shanxi province), comprising four halls, the 270-hectare complex of the temple of heaven (Ming and Qing Dynasty), as well as a model of one of the 492 Buddhist cave temples of the area of Dunhuang; all of these complexes belong to the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.
The exhibition will be on at the Museum of Architecture from October 22, 2009 to January 24, 2010. The Munich museum has been teaching from 1868, when the architectural training at the New Polytechnic School, the predecessor of today’s Technical University, was established.
