The Temple of Heaven

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General

The Temple of Heaven is situated in the southern part of Beiling，about 6Km away from the center of the city.Traditionally，this temple was for im-perial use only.It was built in 1420，covering an area of 273 hectares，it is the one of the largest parks in Beiling.The Temple of Heaven was the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties worshipped heaven and prayed for good harvests.The emperors visited the temple three times a year:on the 8th day of the first lunar month to pray for a good harvest；during the Summer Solstice to pray for rain；and during Winter Solstice to give thanks for a good harvest.During each ceremony，the emperors wor-shipped heaven and prayed for a good harvest.In addition，the emperors also worshipped their ancestors and other natural phenomena such as the Cloud God，Rain God and Wind God.

It is among the first key cultural sites under state protection，and in De-cember 1998 the UNESCO incribed it on the World Heritages List.

Circular Mound Altar

The lfar seats inside the South Gate.Constructed in 1530，it is a circu-lar stone platform of 3 tiers，5m high，guarded with stone slabs between balustrodes，encircled by a low wall of round inside but square outside as a reference to“round sky and square land”.Four groups of Lingxing gates，three in a unit，stand in the four directions outside the inner and outer walls of the temple，but the Circular Mound Altar is double walled and has two rings of the gates，to form a 3-dimensional geometry that is grand andgreat.

Circular Mound Altar is long known as a holy，a sacred site for offering worship sacrifice.It is truly the heavenly a altar，also popularly referred to as the Altar，Altar to Worship Heaven，or Altar of Obeisance for Heaven.

Divine Court

This refers to the part storing the tablets of Supreme Ruler of Heaven and other gods，which are to be escorted to Circular Mound only for maior ceremonies.The court，to the south of Circular Mound Altar inside Gaze Gate，includes mainly the Echo Wall，Imperial Vault of Heaven，east and west side halls.

Glaze Gate:It is the entrance of Divine Court，so called for its glaze brackets，the only prototype found in China，and for the glaze tiles of sky blue on its wall of finely laid bricks.