追寻昭庆律寺的昔日辉煌——挖掘外国友人为我们所保存的历史记忆

Looking for the Past Glory of the Monastery of Manifest Congratulations——A Review of the Historical Memories Preserved for Us by the Westerners

位于西子湖畔的昭庆寺曾是杭州著名的四大佛寺之一,但解放后它被改造成了杭州市少年宫。原有的寺院建筑受到了严重的破坏,只剩下了一个正殿的外壳。进入21世纪以来,不断有人提议修复昭庆寺这一在西湖边有标志意义的古迹。2005年,为了整治保俶路,杭州市政府还专门制定了"历史文化碎片保护整治方案",准备要再现昭庆寺的香市胜景。可是六年的时间过去了,此事似乎仍遥遥无期,除了青少年活动中心需要搬迁等客观原因之外,历史资料的匮乏也是其中重要原因之一。因为要完整地复原一个历史古迹,光是凭借地方志里那些简略的文字描述是远远不够的,我们还需要有更详细的文字记载和大量的老照片,以作为客观的参照物。而昭庆寺的老照片主要是由外国人所拍摄的。本文便是对西方人士记录昭庆寺的相关文字与老照片的回顾和研究。

Located by the West Lake, the Monastery of Manifest Congratulations used to be one of the four major Buddhist temples in Hangzhou. Yet since 1956, it has been transformed into a Children' s Palace. The original courtyard and architectures nearly disappeared, the only surviving building is the main hall, and even that one has maintained only its outward appearance. In the 21st century, more and more people proposed to restore this historical Buddhist temple. In 2005, the municipal government of Hangzhou even drew up 'The Measures for Preserving and Renovating Historical Sites,' in an effort to reproduce the past glory of the Monastery of Manifest Congratulations. Nevertheless, six years have passed away, yet there seems to be no progress whatsoever. Besides the difficult issues of removing the Children s Palace, an important factor is the lack of historical data. In order to fully restore a historical site, it is no enough to rely only on the brief introductions of local annals. We need more detailed studies and a large amount of old photographs for objective reference, and most of the photographs about this temple were actually taken by Westerners. The article is a review and critical study of those western studies and photographs about the Monastery of Manifest Congratulations.