Stele Forest (碑林; pinyin: Bēilín), aka Xi'an Stele Forest Museum or Xi'an Beilin Museum, is a museum for steles and stone sculptures which is located in Xi'an, China. Its name comes from its huge collection of steles, reminiscent of a forest.
The Stele Forest began with the Kaicheng Shi Jing Steles (开成石经碑) and Shitai Xiao Jing Steles (石台孝经碑), two groups of steles both carved in the Tang dynasty and displayed in the temple to Confucius in Chang'an. In 904, a rebel army sacked Chang'an, and the two stele were evacuated to the inner city. In 962, they were again moved to the rebuilt temple to Confucius. In the Song Dynasty (1087), a special hall, with attached facilities, was built to house and display the two Stele groups. It was damaged during the Ming dynasty, in the 1556 Shaanxi earthquake.
It collects nearly 3000 steles and it is the biggest museum for steles in China. Most of its collection are steles of the Tang Dynasty. Ink rubbings of the steles are available for sale. Among the unusual examples is a 18th-century stele depicting a Yangtze River flood control project. Another appears to be a bamboo forest, but on examination the leaves and branches form a poem.
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