Architecture is the memory of a city, and landmarks carry the symbol of a city of an era. People's perception of a city often comes from the landmark buildings of the city, and the landmarks of each era are different, but no matter what, each landmark has its own unique significance, carrying the memories of a generation and witnessing the development of a city.
Since the reform and opening up, Taiyuan, an old city with a long history of 2,500 years, has been earth-shaking in urban construction, and various modern buildings have sprung up, and the old-fashioned architectural landmarks have appeared to be dim and submerged, drowning in the dust of history. No matter how the city develops and changes, these landmarks have written an indelible memory of the times, the provincial gymnasium is the landmark building of Taiyuan City's cultural and sports industry before the nineties of the last century, it carries more than half a century of Taiyuan people's cultural and sports feelings ......
Some old Taiyuan people know that there were two main places for Taiyuan citizens' cultural and sports activities at that time, one was the Workers' Cultural Palace on Yingze Street, and the other was the gymnasium on Shuangta Street. I have been there many times after the renovation of the Workers' Cultural Palace, and I have also driven into the underground parking lot, but I have not been in the gymnasium since the reinforcement and renovation. One day shortly after the 2019 National Youth Games, I walked to Erya Bookstore to buy books, walked to the gate of the Provincial Gymnasium, and saw two signs hanging on the pillars in the front hall of the main hall. It turned out to be transformed into a Shanxi Provincial Sports Museum? It has been open for several years, I have not been in, after going in to see the content is still a lot, because there is something not to visit in detail, later, due to the emergence of the epidemic, I went to visit several times and were suspended, recently visited a few times, the main content of the museum to understand. The gymnasium has been closed for several years due to various reasons, and I have been practicing in the main hall here for many years before the closure, and I am still very familiar with the gymnasium before the renovation.
The Provincial Gymnasium was built in 1958 and put into use in 1961, which is the first batch of national gymnasiums built in China, and is also one of the earliest indoor gymnasiums in Shanxi Province and even the whole country, with a construction area of 0570,000 square meters, more than 3,400 seats in the museum, the whole façade of the main hall presents the European classical style, the cornice treatment is delicate, the craftsmanship is exquisite, reflecting the construction technology level of China's buildings in the early days of liberation, it is one of the representative buildings of Taiyuan City in the 50s of the 20th century, has important research and preservation value, and is the only protected sports historical building in the province. There have been many major national competitions here, at the beginning of the reform and opening up, the gymnasium also introduced a variety of theatrical performances, during that time, all kinds of performance activities in an endless stream, Liu Huan, Jiang Dawei, Zhao Zhongxiang, Yu Shuzhen, etc., it can be said that the stars of that era almost never came to the gymnasium to perform, at that time this kind of performance was really hard to find, at that time I just arrived in Taiyuan to work, the unit is very close to the gymnasium, here I have seen a lot of "celebrities".
Now, if its neighbor is not the Taiyuan City Bus Company, if the "Stadium" stop sign is not an important transportation hub, perhaps many people have long forgotten its existence. It is said that due to the superior location of the gymnasium, many real estate developers at that time, several times wanted to develop real estate here, is the provincial sports bureau leaders after careful consideration, or retain this landmark building, for the later sports museum to create the best conditions, since then forever to retain the "gymnasium" this landmark building, it is for these reasons that Taiyuan No. 2 subway line still retains the name of this station. At that time, when the No. 2 subway line station was named in the city, there were three subway stations with the name of the unit, TISCO, Gymnasium, and Animal Research Institute, and the two station names of TISCO and Animal Research Institute were finally changed to Jiancaoping and Electronic West Street Station due to the strong opposition of the public, and the gymnasium was the only subway station on the No. 2 subway line that uses the name of the building (unit), which shows the influence of the landmark building of the gymnasium, if there is no gymnasium, the station name must be "Shuangta West Street Station". In the past, the Shanxi Provincial Gymnasium has always been the name of a unit, but in recent years, the institutional reform has undergone significant changes, and now the "Gymnasium" is just the name of a city landmark, and the "Twin Towers" in Taiyuan are not directly related to the name of the unit.
The Workers' Cultural Palace and the Gymnasium, two historical buildings in Taiyuan, also have a common feature, that is, the inscription on the main building has not changed for more than 60 years. The Workers' Cultural Palace is the first chairman of the committee to write a paragraph, we all know, the three words of the gymnasium because there is no payment, the author has learned from many aspects, it is said that it is from the hand of Zheng Lin, a famous calligrapher in China, he founded the Shanxi Provincial Calligraphy Research Association and Shanxi Provincial Calligraphy Seal Carving Research Association, and served as the first chairman of the Shanxi Calligraphers Association, is a well-deserved calligraphy everyone, people are familiar with the Jin Temple, Yingze Park, Yingze Hotel, Shanxi University, Liu Hulan Martyrs' Tomb and so on are his works.
After the renovation of the gymnasium, a new "identity" has evolved - Shanxi Provincial Sports Museum. Just keep the gymnasium, is not the purpose of Shanxi sports people, how to maximize its historical role, is their goal, as the country's few existing Soviet-style architectural gymnasium, it condenses the history of an era, as the earliest indoor stadium in Taiyuan, it has almost witnessed the whole process of Shanxi competitive sports development, why not show it? The development of concepts has ushered in a new life for Shanxi Gymnasium. The newly created "Shanxi Sports Museum" is the palace of Shanxi sports civilization and an important bridge connecting the past, present and future of Shanxi sports.
The current sports museum is only transformed by using the front hall of the original gymnasium, divided into two floors, with an area of about 1,200 square meters, the main hall of 5,000 square meters in the middle, and also has the function of a small gymnasium, which can hold some enterprises, schools or some special sports meetings, and is also the activity place for the majority of sports enthusiasts, it can be said that the current sports museum is a museum in the gymnasium. Compared with the previous stadium, the renovated gymnasium has demolished the wall of the original unit, reduced the closed gate, and has become a completely free and open venue, and there are fountains and other landscapes on the square, which has truly become a national fitness venue. According to the docent, since the opening of the Sports Museum, the contents of the exhibition have been adjusted several times due to the continuous increase in the collection.
The content of the sports museum mainly includes 6 parts: ancient sports, modern sports, Olympic corridor, the second National Youth Games, Shanxi Sports Hall of Fame, and national defense science and technology sports, among them, the first 5 parts are located in Hall 1, which is the front hall of the main hall, and the National Defense Science and Technology Sports Hall is in Hall 2, behind the main hall. Why is there a special National Defense Science and Technology Sports Hall? This is because in the past, China's military sports (also known as national defense science and technology sports) were completely independent, and the projects were relatively specialized, mainly shooting, parachuting, gliding, aeromodeling, radio, etc., which were merged after 1978.
Ancient Sports Exhibition Area. Known as the "Museum of Ancient Chinese Culture", Shanxi has not only nurtured a splendid human civilization, but also the cradle of ancient Chinese sports civilization. The vivid murals and precious collections truly record the colorful sports images in ancient times, reflecting the long history of sports development in ancient Shanxi. Here you can learn about the stone balls unearthed from the ruins of Ding Village in Shanxi, you can also see sports such as bows and pots, and you can also intuitively understand the chess activities containing profound Chinese culture from the collections such as chess scores, chess stones, and porcelain plates painted with chess drawings.
The part of modern and contemporary sports, mainly based on black and white, freezes the important events and figures in the development of modern sports. From the first-class long-distance runner Gu Desheng, to the "sisters" Wang Chunjing and Wang Chunwei, who were popular in the Chinese tennis world in the 30s of the last century, from the militia performance "Stacking Arhats" to the famous "combat basketball team......" of the 120th DivisionThrough the old **, we can see the development of sports in Shanxi in modern times. Entering the exhibition area of contemporary sports, the situation of the previous Shanxi Provincial Games, the update and change of the construction of Shanxi sports venues and facilities, the development of Shanxi Sports Clubs, as well as various trophies, medals, signed jerseys and signed basketballs and other exhibits, showing the new look of Shanxi's sports development.
The Olympic Corridor exhibition area shows the birth and development of the modern Olympic movement and the overview of the previous Olympic Games, including the time, place, competition conditions, anthem, flag, etc., and the grand occasion of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is vividly displayed. The cauldron used for the torch relay in our province is displayed here.
Shanxi Sports Hall of Fame, which shows some of the outstanding achievements and sports celebrities achieved by Shanxi in different periods of the Olympic Games, Asian Games, National Games and Comprehensive Games after the founding of New China, shows the demeanor of Shanxi athletes, as well as the uniforms, medals, certificates, etc. of some athletes, including Olympic champions Zhou Xiaolan and Dong Dong, Shanxi "wrestling king" Liang Lei, etc.
In this exhibition hall, Shanxi's achievements and competition equipment in national defense science and technology sports such as shooting, archery, radio sideways, model aircraft, and radio stations are displayed.
When I saw the development and changes of Shanxi stadiums, I suddenly remembered Xinghualing Stadium, which is the first generation of stadiums in Taiyuan City, built in the 40s of the last century. It is said that before the construction of the provincial gymnasium, all the training of the provincial sports team was carried out in the open air here, the environment was very difficult, and there were no chairs in the stands that could accommodate 10,000 people, this was the earliest stadium in Taiyuan, which was demolished in 1993 and has now become an eternal memory. The construction of the Provincial Stadium replaced part of the functions of the Xinghualing Stadium. The Provincial Stadium, which was put into use in 1993, played a great role at the end of the 20th century and is the third-generation venue in Taiyuan City, and is now the National Fitness Center of Shanxi Province. Completed in 2011, Shanxi Sports Center, that is, the "Red Lantern" Stadium, is the most advanced venue in Taiyuan City, its appearance lights up Taiyuan City, is the symbol of Taiyuan's modern stadiums.
The construction of the "Red Lantern" stadium has fundamentally changed the relatively backward appearance of sports facilities in Shanxi Province, at present, the sports teams of major sports in Shanxi Province are concentrated here to train, the basketball hall of Shanxi Sports Center, Shanxi Xingrui women's basketball team has cast WCBA three consecutive championship dynasty, Shanxi men's basketball home stadium is famous throughout the country.
The Sports Museum is a witness to the development of sports and a unique cultural symbol of the city. The achievements of Shanxi's sports industry will surely go down in history, and these achievements will also be continuously displayed in the Shanxi Provincial Sports Museum.
About author:Li Yanglong, a native of Yuncheng, Shanxi, lives in Taiyuan, and is a member of the Shanxi Writers Association and the Taiyuan Writers Association. I always want to record my life experience with ever-changing words, understand life, praise truth, goodness and beauty, spread positive power, and water the evergreen tree of life.