After the 'Yellow River Iron Bull' was fished out, why wasn't it protected in the open air? Expert: dare not

China has a long history and culture, and has created many precious cultural relics, most of which were buried underground due to ancient burials, and some were collected and passed down from generation to generation. Most of the cultural relics in private hands are collected in museums in the end, and only a few of them are left in personal hands. Because of their precious value, they are properly kept. However, there is such a cultural relic in China, although the national I also know its existence, but why is it placed in the open air so far?

This precious cultural relic is Kaiyuan Iron Bull, which is the iron bull of the Tang Dynasty. In 1989, these cultural relics were finally discovered on the site, and all the Kaiyuan Iron Bulls were unearthed, which also surprised the experts and attracted the attention of archaeologists.

Kaiyuan iron bulls are also called Tang Dynasty iron bulls because they were cast in the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, that is to say, they are all 1200-year-old antiques. Regardless of the fact that these cows are made of iron, their appearance is not bad at all. Whether you look at them from a distance or close up, they are not much different from live cows. They were all lying on the pedestal, the two huge bull eyes were wide open, and there were beautiful patterns on their foreheads, not to mention how beautiful they were.

In the 1940s, local people could still touch the horns when they went into the water. In the 1950s, the iron ox was more than two meters deep into the river. In order to prevent the Iron Bull from disappearing, in the 1980s, the relevant local authorities decided to take it out, using tools to lift the Iron Bull and the Iron Man from the river, and place them on the surface. However, although the iron bull has been lifted out, how to protect it has become a big problem, because the most difficult problem for large iron cultural relics is rust.

Of course, some people are curious, what is the use of such a heavy iron bull? In fact, it is not an ornamental object, but is called Zhenhe Iron Bull. In fact, this is what the ancients used to suppress bridges. You must know that the Yellow River is the mother river of China, and it is also a flooded river.

In order to prevent the Yellow River from harming the surrounding people, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang ordered craftsmen to cast 8 iron bulls, each of which was placed on the river bank. In the blink of an eye, 1300 years have passed, and the flooding of the Yellow River has improved. The eight iron bulls also sank into the mud due to the change of the river course and disappeared. Only four were fished out in 1989.

Why didn't such an expensive Kaiyuan Iron Bull not protect it, but placed it in the open air, not afraid of thieves? It's not that the experts don't want to be protected, they just don't know where to start, and they don't dare to start easily. You must know that these iron bulls are very heavy and very large. It is extremely difficult to find a place for them, and there are no better protection measures and methods.

Experts have also used various methods, but they did not achieve the desired effect, but also caused certain damage to it, and even rusted, so they did not find other better protection. Before taking any measures or methods, they can only be placed in the open air temporarily. Experts dare not protect them at will, for fear of breaking them.

From the current point of view, the condition of the Yellow River Iron Bull is not bad. Although there were some traces of rust in the salvage that year, fortunately, the casting process was good enough and the quality of the iron bull was excellent. These rust marks will not expand in the short term. It will not harm the main body of the iron bull. So the best way to protect right now is to not intervene, lest it be a disservice.