- Part 1 -
What mysteries did the east hold? At first glance, it seems that there were a lot of riddles, because he was always rightfully considered mysterious and incomprehensible. Is this so if you try to delve into the preserved engineering structures of the east? What depths of Eastern philosophy do we learn?
Actually, since in the last part we completed the review with datsans preserved or restored on the territory of Russia, let's start with them. And as an example, let us take the Aginsky datsan, located in the village of Aginskoye of the former Aginsko-Buryat Autonomous Okrug (now the Trans-Baikal Territory). And as soon as we begin to study its history, interesting facts begin to emerge.
Wow … 1811 comes out again, which is known as "the year without summer" and the year of the terrible flood in St. Petersburg. In addition, in many chronicles this year is referred to as the year of the destruction of ancient fortresses and bastions, allegedly by the decision of the authorities, but in fact all the destruction was carried out by a giant wave. This wave passed from north to south, demolishing and covering everything in its path with mud. At some point, the wave lost its intensity, and it could no longer demolish strong structures. Apparently, this is what happened with the same Orthodox Church, which was adapted for the datsan. Let's try to find it. Actually, I didn't have to look for a long time, here is a photo of this church from the late 19th-early 20th century.
Orthodox church, adapted for a datsan in the 19th century.
Actually, why was this building suddenly taken and adapted, and even for a place of worship from one faith to another? Only one conclusion suggests itself - the entire Orthodox parish of that church was either destroyed by the elements, or migrated in search of a better life. And completely strangers came to this place, with a different religion. Well, they adapted the building that remained abandoned. And it became something like this:
The building of the Aginsky Datsan in the 20th century.
Despite the fact that the Aginsky Datsan has no less old and beautiful buildings, no one demolishes this building. Here is its modern look:
Promotional video:
Looking at these three photos, the thought persists that this church in its old form had another floor, which is now covered with soil. There are a number of signs by which I draw this conclusion, but here it is probably better to tell my opinion to the architects. Judging by the sun, in the place where the entrance is now, there was the eastern side of the temple, i.e. altar. But no less interesting question - what else is fundamentally different for this building in all three photos?
Aginsky datsan, 20th century.
As practice shows, if in modern photos some details of structures differ from similar ones in old photos, then in most cases it is necessary to look for a catch. In addition, next to this building, adapted from an Orthodox church, already in the 19th century there was this:
Aginsky datsan. The beginning of the 20th century.
And this is more like oriental architecture. It is difficult to say whether this building is "antediluvian" or not, but the fact takes place - once an Orthodox temple and a Buddhist temple stood side by side. This once again confirms the multiculturalism of Tartary. And it is not without reason that such names of cities in the area as Verkhneudinsk, Troitskosavsk or Belottsarsk disappeared from the map of Russia - all traces of Tartary were carefully cleaned up. However, we are distracted. Let's go back to the details of the buildings that were previously outlined in the photo.
Actually, these details of the cult buildings of Buddhism in one form or another were present everywhere, from Buryatia to Sumatra.
Vietnam, Annam district, 19th century.
Vietnam, Tonkin region, 19th century.
Cambodia, Phnom Penh, 19th century.
Vietnam, Hanoi, 19th century.
Vietnam, Saigon, 19th century.
Japan, 19th century.
Korea, 19th century.
China, 19th century.
You need to pay more attention to the bottom photo. What does the roof of a building consist of? Obviously, on top of the roof of the suite, metal rods are put together, the horizontal ones are bent, and the vertical ones are sealed with some kind of ceramic tube with a filler. And already underneath them is the roofing material. Lanterns on the corners of the roof also deserve special attention. They obviously contain some kind of light bulbs, and in the background this light bulb clearly fell out of the lantern. A similar picture in the photo from Japan is just above. But we will come to the light bulbs a little later, and now we will return to the roof. In favor of the version that there really are metal rods, and not bamboo, are photos from the fires in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
The outcome of a fire in Shanghai, 19th century.
The outcome of a fire in Hong Kong, 19th century.
Indeed, in the roofs of all buildings that used incomprehensible figurines and figurines on the edges, there were crossed metal rods, and they were located just above the roof, which eliminated mechanical stress on them. Why were they there?
Vietnam, Tonkin, pagoda. End of the 19th century.
Note the circled defect in the roof. More like a manifestation of corrosion than mechanical damage. In addition, the meanders installed on the edges of the roof also raise questions. They are clearly not made of wood or ceramics, in which case they would not last long. Then what are they made of?
Actually, the answer to all this can be given by modern photos of pagodas and datsans. Judging by the fact that these parts were painted there with gold-plated paint (although they themselves were made of anything, but not metal), in those days all these parts were also metal. And oddly enough, they had direct contact with the wire mesh on the roof. The picture is starting to clear up. Let's see another picture (unfortunately, not a photo, but nevertheless it will add some details):
This is how all the multi-storey pagodas were once, the half-ruins of which were shown in the first part. The artist has painted metal parts with a characteristic color. In total, we have that on large pagodas all cornices with lanterns were either completely metal, or consisted of a similar crossing of rods. Nothing supernatural, it is quite possible that in the east they did not possess the technology of obtaining sheet metal, well, they got out of the situation in this way (for now, let's omit the tales from the history textbook that China was ahead of the rest of the world for the invention of porcelain, gunpowder, paper, etc.)).
And what do we get? That's right, when all over the world domes were made from copper sheets with gilding (amalgamation), in the east they were made from crossed metal rods. And if we imagine that the eastern domes, like their western counterparts, also served to collect electrical vibrations from the atmosphere, but their design was less perfect, what did they do in this case? And they did nothing more than a set of such domes one above the other. Or in other words, quality was replaced by quantity. But why, then, were the incomprehensible figurines on the ridge and the edges of the roof needed? To answer this question, let's go back to the music kiosk described here sometime ago.
Music kiosk, Paris. Second half of the 19th century.
What can a music kiosk design and a pagoda design have in common, for example:
Japan, photo of the second half of the 20th century.
Oddly enough, there is a lot in common. There are lanterns, and incomprehensible vases on the racks, and columns. Only the roof is not quite similar. But in the bottom photo, oddly enough, the metal and metallized parts clearly have the same color, which cannot be confused with anything. It turns out that the vases standing under the menorah on the edges of the roof of the music kiosk, in fact in the pagoda, are executed as objects on the edges of the raised corners of the roof? This is exactly the way it is.
China, second half of the 19th century.
And on many constructions this is confirmed. In general, nothing new. If we consider the analogy with stringed musical instruments, then they can be of different shapes and sizes, but all are designed for one thing - the extraction of acoustic vibrations. And each has its own strings, deck and neck. It's the same here. Only at the music kiosk there are vases on pipes, and in the eastern buildings their role was played by the very figures on the roof. Well, apparently, the builders of these eastern buildings did not possess the technologies of not only obtaining sheet metal, but also pipes, as well as vessels made of metal, at all. But on the other hand, they knew how to make a certain alloy that was mechanically strong and could hold on to the roof due to its rigidity. In music kiosks in Europe, the role of such an alloy was played by a liquid metal substance placed in vases. What was more effective, now, alas,no longer know.
So, as we can see, the secret of eastern oil and goodness, as well as in the west, again rests on the completely mundane technical properties of temple structures. And the structures of these structures, oddly enough, are typical, although this does not seem so at first glance. Actually, the country where all this was built was one, where all these structures stood side by side.
Continued: Part 3.
Author: tech_dancer
