The Temple of Heaven/The Place of Ceremony
2 min readThe Temple of Heaven is located in southern Beijing.It was first constructed in 1420,the 18th year of the reign of Ming emperor Yongle,and was extended and Renovated during the reigns of Ming Emperor Jiajing and Qing Emperor Qianlong.
It was the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties would worship the god of heaven and pray for good harvest .Covering an area of 273 hectares,it is the largest architectural complex in the world for rituals to pay homage to heaven.
The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is a magnificent triple- gabled circular building,36 meters in diameter and 38 meters tall, built on three levels of marble stone base,where the Emperor prayed for good harvests.The building is completely wooden.
The Imperial Vault of Heaven is a single-gabled circular building, built on a single level of marble stone base.It is located south of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and resembles it,but is smaller,It is surrounded by a smooth circular wall,the Echo Wall,that can transmit sounds over large distances.
The Circular Mound Altar is one of the important buildings and is a three-tier white stone terrace enclosed by two walls.The outer wall is a square and inner wall is a circle,representing the”circular Heaven and square Earth”,The altar has a round rock, called the Heavenly Center Stone,at the center of the top terrace,lf you stand on the rock and speak loud,the sound waves reflected by the walls are bounced back to the center.And the voice will echoes back again and again.
