Suide Stone Lion Museum 绥德石狮博物馆

About Suide Stone Lion Museum

The museum building is formed of two stone lions, a male and a female, which the Yulin media report describes as China's tallest single-piece stone lions. Inside them the museum holds 365 stone lions from the Han and Tang through the Ming and Qing, among them 炕头萌狮, 镇宅古狮 and 山河镇狮. The same report describes 绥德 stone carving as a folk art of the loess country whose lions are its most representative product, and says the lions are not mere ornaments but serve local people as blessings and as guardians of house and town.

The tradition behind the collection has its own national record. It works the slate of the northern Shaanxi plateau by grinding and chiselling, and is both practical and artistic, appearing in residents' production and daily life, in building decoration and in folk custom; the record names cave dwellings and 炕头石狮子 as its representative works and lists, among other things, household implements, production tools, protective carvings, commemorative pieces and stone buildings. Carvers read the stone first (相石) and then cut through rough shaping, coarse carving, fine carving and polishing. Surviving objects show the craft had reached a high level by the Han dynasty and has been passed down for more than two thousand years.

What to look for

• The two stone lions that form the museum building, 19.5 metres tall, a male and a female, which the Yulin media report describes as China's tallest single-piece stone lions.
• The 365 stone lions inside the lions' bodies, from the Han and Tang through the Ming and Qing, among them 炕头萌狮, 镇宅古狮 and 山河镇狮.
• The 炕头石狮子, one of the two works the national record names as representative of Suide stone carving.
• The wider range of stone work the national record lists beyond lions, including household implements such as 石碾 and 石磨, commemorative pieces such as 牌坊 and 龙柱, and stone buildings such as 亭 and 廊.
• The working sequence the national record sets out, among other steps, runs from reading the stone for its form, grain and character through rough shaping, coarse carving, fine carving and polishing.

Location & getting there

Getting to Suide Stone Lion Museum

Confirm the venue or campus, reservation channel and exhibition calendar. A museum name may cover more than one building.

• Search for 绥德石狮博物馆 with 榆林市 and 绥德县.