Temple Type: Buddhist Monastery 佛寺.
Location: Buddha-Heart Monastery of Previous-Fort Village in Yu County, Hebei Province. 河北省蔚縣故城村佛心死, also called Previous-Fort Monastery 故城寺. The monastery is located in the fields outside of the eastern gate of the old fortified village; originally there was a sister-monastery outside of the western gate.
Period: Painted 1504. The date of temple-foundation is given on wooden plaques hung from the rafters, and the style seems clearly from that period.
Artist: Li Han 李漢, name give on the ceiling plaque.
Mural Contents: The murals depict the Dharma Feast of Water and Land 水陸法齋, in which all the gods of the Chinese pantheon are called down to receive the teachings. The two northern walls originally displayed the Ten Wisdom Kings 十明王, although now only part of one survives. The paint on this one remaining wall has partially pealed away, revealing the gorgeous Ming-dynasty line drawing beneath.
Other Notes: The Yu County Museum has published a beautiful volume of these murals, titled: 故城寺壁畫 (蔚縣博物館 · 著). The site is receiving increasing attention as a cultural relic, and when I last visited it was being repaired by an outside team of restorers. The temple room is tall and narrow and mostly filled with an immense, recently-build statue of Śākyamuni. This makes photography very difficult. For all these reasons I took relatively cursory photos at this site.
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