现在大家看到的就是著名的昭陵博物馆了。

昭陵博物馆依唐代三朝元老李墓而建。他是一个传奇人物，一生几起几落。

李原姓徐，名世，字懋恭。17岁时，他参加隋末瓦岗农民起义军，后来投降李渊，奉事李渊、李世民、李治三代皇帝，在很多战役中都建有大功，深得太宗赏识。在他生病时，唐太宗亲自为他剪须和煎药，所以他身前是非常显赫的。

李死后，唐太宗为其起冢。他的墓冢由3个高约6丈的锥形土堆组成，土堆下部合在一起，上部形成倒“品”字形的3个山头，象征阴山、铁山和乌德鞬山，其意是为表彰他生前破劂之战功。墓前有一通石碑，高5.6米，碑座为1.2米巨龟形，碑首雕刻有6条龙。碑文由唐高宗李治亲自撰书。

然而武则天称帝时，李的孙子徐敬业起兵讨伐。李不但被剥夺贵族头衔，他的坟墓也被挖开，棺材被劈碎。但是武则天死后，唐中宗为李追复贵族头衔，并重新安葬。“三梁进德冠”是迄今发现的惟一唐代冠帽，它与一柄宝剑均出土于李墓，估计就是唐中宗为他平反昭雪后重新埋入的。我们现在看到的就是昭雪平反后重新修复的李墓。墓前有石人1对，左侧石羊、右侧石虎各3对。

除李墓外，昭陵博物馆内还有2个碑石陈列室和出土文物、雕刻绘画展厅。除展出近年来从昭陵的10多座陪葬墓中发掘出土的文物外，主要陈列昭陵范围出土的各式唐代碑石与墓志铭。因为这些碑石独有的巨大书法艺术价值，所以这座博物馆又被称为“昭陵碑林”。

据宋代金石学家著录，昭陵碑石原有80多通。当时有人成套出售拓本，称为《昭陵全拓》。可惜这些碑石在过去没有得到认真保护，到1949年只剩下22通。近50多年来，结合考古发掘和文物普查，又陆续发现和发掘出土了许多墓碑和墓志，形成了今日昭陵碑林的规模。

唐太宗和唐高宗都酷爱书法，在他们的倡导下，书法艺术日臻精美，昭陵及其众多陪葬墓前的每块墓碑都堪称为书法艺术精品。这些碑石多数都是原刻，绝非后人剔刻或伪造。当时刻碑的方法是先磨平碑石，然后用朱笔将碑文直接写在石上，叫做“书丹”（现在刻碑，是将碑文写在纸上，让石工勾勒上石），所以笔锋清晰，毫不走样。唐代盛行立碑之风。昭陵陪葬墓群的级别之高、数量之大，独一无二，留下大量第一流的墓碑。昭陵碑刻早就享有盛誉，就荟萃初唐书法艺术精华而言，昭陵碑林堪称中国之最。

这里共有两个大的陈列室，我们现在看到的是第一个。

Now you are at the famous Zhaoling Museum.

The Zhaoling Museum is built on the site of the Tomb of Li Ji，a minister to three emperors in the Tang Dynasty.He is a legendary man undergone complicated things when he was alive and dead.

Li Ji was named Xu Shoji originally，aliased Maogong.He joined the Wagang Pea－sant Insurrec tion Army at the age of 17.Later he capitulated to Li Yuan，assisting Emperor Li Yuan，Li Shimin，and Li Zhi in governing the country.He was so appreci ated by Taizong for the great feats he had performed in numerous battles that when he was ill，Emperor Taizong even served him personally.He was very popular when he was alive.

After Li Ji's death，Emperor Taizong had Li Ji's tomb built into three 20－meter－high hillocks representing the mountains of Yinshan，Tieshan and Wudejian.The three peaks form the shape of an inverted Chinese character“Pin”，which is in praise of his achievements in defeating the Tujue（a nomadic tribe）.The tomb stone is 5.6 meters high with a 1.2－meter－long large stone tortoise as its base and six dragons carved on the top.There is an inscription on the top.The inscription on the tablet was composed by Li Zhi（Gaozong）himself.

Xu Jingye，the grandson of Li Ji，started a rebellion when Wu Zetian came into power.Not only was Li Ji deprived of his aristocratic title，but also his tomb was uncovered and his coffin was cut into pieces.However，after Wu Zetian died，Emperor Zhongzong resumed Li Ji's title and rebuilt his tomb. Sanliang Jinde Crown was the only Tang crown discovered so far in tomb.It is said that this was reburied after Emperor Zhongzong redressed and exonerated him.Now here is the tomb rebuilt after Li Ji had been exonerated，with a couple of stone figures on the facade，three pairs of stone sheep on the left and three pairs of stone tigers on the right.

Besides Li Ji's tomb，there are also two exhibition halls for stone tablets and an exhibition hall for unearthed relics，carvings and paintings.The objects on display are not only works of art，but also show different styles of stone tablets and epitaphs of the Tang Dynasty.They were unearthed around this area in recent years.The stone tablets have great value in the art of calligraphy.Therefore it is also called the Forest of Stone Tablets of Zhaoling.

It was recorded in the work of an epigrapher in the Song Dynasty that there were over 80 tablets around Zhaoling.A set of books of rubbings named The Rubbings of Zhaoling was for sale at that time. It was a pity that the tablets were not carefully protected and there were only 22 tablets left by 1949. Over the past 50 years，with the efforts of archaeologists and a general survey of the antiques，many tomb stones and epitaphs have been found and unearthed，forming the present display of the Forest of Stone Tablets of Zhaoling.

Since the satellite tombs of Zhaoling are unique in rank and quantity，a large number of tombstones are first－class.Owing to the fact that both Taizong and Gaozong，two emperors of the Tang Dynasty，were fond of calligraphy，the calligraphic art was improving and approach－ing perfection day by day.Every stone was original and they were not copied or imitated by later generations.The way of inscribing the tablet was to first write the article in red directly on the flat stone.（Now the way of inscribing is to write the article on the paper and sketch it by the stonemason on the stone.）So the strokes are very clear without losing shape.It was fashionable to install stone tablets in front of tombs in the Tang Dynasty.The stone tablets of Zhao－ling are first class and have been well－known since ancient times，as they are the cream of calligraphy in the early Tang Dynasty.

There are two large exhibition rooms here. We are visiting the first one.