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Link between heaven and earth
By UNESCO website |
October 28, 2012, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Temple of Heaven in Beijing is an axial arrangement of a Circular Mound Altar to the south open to the sky, with the conically roofed Imperial Vault of Heaven immediately to its north. This is linked by a raised sacred way to the circular, three-tiered, conically roofed Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests further to the north.
Here the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties, as interlocutors between humans and the celestial realm, offered sacrifices to heaven and prayed for bumper harvests. To the west is the Hall of Abstinence where the emperor fasted after making a sacrifice.
In the complex are 92 ancient buildings with 600 rooms. It is the most complete existing imperial sacrificial building complex in China and the world's largest existing building complex for offering sacrifices to heaven.
Located south of the Forbidden City on the east side of Yongnei Street, the original Altar of Heaven and Earth was completed in 1420, the 18th year of the reign of the Ming Emperor Yongle. In the ninth year of the reign of Emperor Jiajing (1530) the decision was taken to offer separate sacrifices to heaven and earth, and so the Circular Mound Altar was built for sacrifices to heaven.
The Temple of Heaven was made a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1998.
Here the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties, as interlocutors between humans and the celestial realm, offered sacrifices to heaven and prayed for bumper harvests. To the west is the Hall of Abstinence where the emperor fasted after making a sacrifice.
In the complex are 92 ancient buildings with 600 rooms. It is the most complete existing imperial sacrificial building complex in China and the world's largest existing building complex for offering sacrifices to heaven.
Located south of the Forbidden City on the east side of Yongnei Street, the original Altar of Heaven and Earth was completed in 1420, the 18th year of the reign of the Ming Emperor Yongle. In the ninth year of the reign of Emperor Jiajing (1530) the decision was taken to offer separate sacrifices to heaven and earth, and so the Circular Mound Altar was built for sacrifices to heaven.
The Temple of Heaven was made a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1998.
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