Celestial Palace and Buddhist Realm： A Preliminary Study on Palace Garden of Liao Dynasty in Yiwulyu Mountain

Based on archaeological investigations, the foundation characteristics of the Liao Dynasty architectural remains in Yiwulyu Mountain are categorized into two types: natural rock foundations and artificial earth foundations. Through morphological analysis employing architectural archaeology methods, the paper identifies these sites as high-status garden-palace complexes from the Liao Dynasty, integrating functions of leisure and residence. It further substantiates the existence of a comprehensive imperial garden constructed by the Liao regime within the mountain. The findings preliminarily reveal the enigmatic architectural forms of these mountain gardens, which embodied a design philosophy aspiring to celestial palaces and earthly Buddhist realms. This site is interpreted as a royal garden exemplar commissioned by the Khitan people, representing a culturally significant heritage of northern ethnic minorities as a rare surviving imperial landscape harmonizing natural topography with artificial grandeur.