Hall Leading into the Main Underground Palace at Ding Tomb 定陵
I was surprised to know that there was an underground palace here at the Ding Tomb. I usually think of underground palaces as something from the movies where someone accidentally discovers it. However, this one is very real and it is open to visitors. The underground palace of the Ding Tomb was discovered in the the 1950s and permission was obtained to excavate. However, the excavation skills of the people that time weren’t that good and a lot of the treasures deteriorated because of improper handling. This was such a pity but it seemed that the government learned its lesson and did not allow excavations in other sites other than for restoration.
Cash Thrown By Chinese Tourists for Good Luck
The Underground Palace was built several stories underground. I was surprised to see how deep it was and even more surprising that someone actually found it. The walls were lined with marble and it was not brightly lit. I’m not sure how it was lit back there, then again, there was no point lighting up an underground palace since it was part of a tomb. As a result of the poorly executed excavation, a lot of the artifacts were lost. As a result, a lot of the exhibits here are mostly reproductions.
[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kmkl/DingTomb.kmz} zoom=19]