Hongdong Bixia Holy Mother Palace | The ceiling is full of lifelike colored sculptures

Bixia Our Lady Palace is commonly known as the "Niangniang Temple". The construction date is unknown. According to the inscription on the ridge purlin of the Our Lady Hall, it was rebuilt in the 20th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1541). According to the inscription on the stele, it was renovated in the 21st year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1895). The existing building is a relic of the Ming Dynasty and covers an area of ​​4,940 square meters. It faces south and has a two-courtyard layout. The ceremonial gate and the Notre Dame Hall are on the central axis, and there are side rooms on both sides. According to the inscriptions on the stele, in the old days, along the central axis from south to north were the stage, palace gate, offering hall, ceremonial gate, and main hall, with the land hall, god of wealth hall, and wing rooms on both sides. It is 115 meters long from north to south and 60 meters wide from east to west. It is large in scale and majestic in appearance. There are two steles recording the maintenance work during the Qing Dynasty in front of the Holy Mother Hall. The Our Lady Hall is a brick-built platform with a height of 0.3 meters. The hall is three bays wide and six rafters deep, with a hip roof decorated with glazed ridge beasts and tiles. It has seven purlins and no corridors, with three-stepped single-arch brackets on the capitals and one-step bracket on the flat body. The main room has lattice doors and the second room has lattice windows. In the center and on both sides of the top of the main room are hung wooden plaques with the words "Three Heavens Merciful Mother, Saving Lifelong Wishes", written in the 24th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1545), "Tianxian Bixia Our Lady Shrine", written in the 17th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1589), and "Bixia Our Lady", written in the 11th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (1638). There is a shrine in the Holy Mother Hall. The main statue is a colorful clay statue of the Holy Mother of Bixia. The other 15 clay sculptures are of male and female waiters, all of which are works from the Ming Dynasty. There are exquisite colorful clay sculptures on the east and west gables and the back wall of the Our Lady Hall, which are divided into three types: standing, flat and suspended. The statues of Our Lady of Bixia, the guards and others are standing sculptures, the surrounding statues of the harem are flat sculptures, and the pictures of Mount Tai's fairyland on the protruding part above the hall are suspended sculptures. These suspended sculptures are in various poses, with delicate brushwork and lifelike appearance.