Mausoleum of Prince Lu 潞王陵

About Mausoleum of Prince Lu

The tomb belongs to Zhu Yiliu, the only full younger brother of the Wanli emperor. He was made Prince of Lu at the age of four and given Weihui in Henan as his princely seat in the seventeenth year of Wanli. The complex was completed in the forty-third year of the Wanli era and its layout follows that of the emperor's own tomb, Dingling near Beijing, which has earned it the nickname 'Dingling of the Central Plains'. The Henan cultural heritage administration describes it as the largest and best preserved Ming princely tomb in the country, and it was declared a national key protected cultural heritage unit in the fourth national batch in 1996.

The complex has three parts: a spirit way lined with stone figures, the prince's own tomb, and the separate tomb of his secondary consort, Lady Zhao. Inside the prince's enclosure three transverse bluestone walls divide the ground into four courtyards, with the main sacrificial hall, its two side halls and the burial chamber beyond. The west side hall now holds an exhibition on the Lu princedom and on Ming princely fiefs generally.

What to look for

• The spirit way, which begins at a stone archway inscribed 'Lufan Jiacheng' and carries sixteen pairs of stone figures set 4.8 metres apart, each cut from a single block of bluestone
• The make-up of that stone retinue: fourteen pairs of animals, one pair of civil officials and one pair of grooms
• The three bluestone cross-walls that split the tomb enclosure into four successive courtyards
• The tomb of the secondary consort Lady Zhao, 140 metres west of the prince's, built in his lifetime with finer materials and decoration than his own
• The exhibition on the Lu princedom and Ming princely fiefs in the west side hall

Location & getting there

Getting to Mausoleum of Prince Lu

Check which interiors and courtyards are accessible. Active places of worship and protected monuments may have different visitor rules.

• Search for 潞王陵 with 新乡市 and 凤泉区.