Page 18 - BSAM 2015 Q4

Top left and right; Grape agate stones. Alxa is the only place in the world where grape agate has been discovered.
Middle left; House-shaped Dahua stone
Middle right; Display with calligraphy
Bottom left; Fruit-shaped stone
16 | BCI | January/February/March 2016
e huge complex of the new museum of about 34,000 square meters resembles a Chinese palace in a mixture traditional and modern architectural style with a domed building in the middle. From the en- trance hall one gets into the central circular hall under the dome-shaped roof. It is nished with ne marble and stone. is hall has an inside gallery. Along the wall are hung huge paintings/photographs depicting Mongolian landscape scenes, for example grassland, deserts or lakes surrounded by poplar forest in bright
yellow autumn color. Single, huge stones on table-like stands are arranged along the wall but also in groups in the middle of the hall. Around the central hall are other interconnected halls, which provide more ex- hibition space where this year’s stone exhibition of several hundred stones was established.
Alashan Zuoqi Viewing Stone Association has a friendly co-operation with the Taiwanese Hualien County Cultural A airs Bureau. erefore delegations of both organizations attend mutually stone exhibi- tions once a year. e in uence of Taiwan was clearly visible in the manner of stone display. e row of big- ger stones was separated from each other in a kind of niche. Beautiful wooden lattice panels divided the niches from each other. Other big stones were just placed on table-high stands and smaller ones in glass showcases.
Most stones on display were from Inner Mongolia but also some from other Chinese provinces. Inner Mongolia, especially Alxa region with Gobi desert