The place where the altar of sacrifice is located was originally the Xingguo Temple in Yanjing City during the Liao and Jin Dynasties. It was renamed the Changshou Xingguo Temple in the Yuan Dynasty. In 1420, it was transformed into the Sheji Altar, where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties worshiped the God of Earth and the God of Grain.
The main buildings of the Sheji Altar include the Ji Gate, the Worship Hall, the Sheji Altar and the attached sacred storehouse, divine kitchen, and slaughtering pavilion. Most of them were built during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty. The main entrance of Sheji Altar is located on the east side, and there are no doors in the south, west and north.
The overall layout of the Sheji Altar is slightly rectangular, with two internal and external walls, covering an area of ??about 160,000 square meters. The inner altar wall is 266.8 meters long from north to south and 205.6 meters wide from east to west. It has red walls and a yellow glazed tile roof. There is a door in the middle of each wall, and the north door is the main door. It is a three-door masonry structure with yellow glazed tiles on the top of the mountain. It is 20 meters wide and 7 meters deep. The bright room is decorated with imitation wood and green glazed five-step brackets. The three doors are all arch type.
Each of the east, south and west has an arched gate, which is also a masonry structure with a yellow glazed top. It is 12 meters wide and 7 meters deep. It imitates wood and green glazed single warped and single raised brackets with five steps. According to the ancient theory that the sky is yang facing south and the earth is yin facing north, She is the land and belongs to yin, so the main buildings in the altar are facing south.
The northernmost one is Jimen, a Ming Dynasty building with five bays in width and a top with yellow glazed tiles. It was originally a three-door system with a central pillar, but was later changed to five bays with partition doors. The indoor color painting is a golden dragon, Fangxin Xuanzi, and the outdoor color painting is a golden dragon and seal.
In the Qing Dynasty, this was the official palace gate of Shejitan. There were 24 large iron halberds and 72 large iron halberds displayed in the three door openings on both sides of the door. The iron halberd of Euphorbia Gate is a "golden dragon halberd with silver upsetting and red pole" that is 1 foot and 1 foot long. This magnificent and important ancient weapon was placed on a vermilion wooden frame and arranged around the palace gate. It was both magnificent and majestic. It was a display for feudal emperors to show their majesty.
To the south of Jimen is the Xiangdian, also known as the Worship Hall. It is a magnificent palace with flying eaves and brackets and splendid splendor. It was built in the early Ming Dynasty and is also called the Sacrifice Hall or the Xiangdian. The building was built in the Ming Dynasty. It is 5 rooms wide and 3 rooms deep. It has yellow glazed tiles on the top of the mountain and seven heavy brackets.
The exterior is painted with seals and seals, and the interior is painted with gold dragons and embroidered zithers. The inside of the hall is made of the Cheshang Ming Dynasty, with no corridor steps. Columns are the structural features of corridorless palace seats in the Ming Dynasty.
All the beams and brackets in the temple are exposed and decorated with paintings, forming a wonderful pattern. The temple was built for worship on rainy days. When there is no rain, sacrifices are held on the altar outside the temple. After Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, moved the capital to Beijing, he built the temple, which has a history of more than 500 years.
According to the regulations, there should be no dining hall in the Sheji Altar because it worships the God of Earth and the God of Grains. The land must withstand wind, rain, frost and dew to receive the air of heaven and earth in order to grow grains, so "Sheji Altar" It is an altar but not a palace."
Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang’s Sheji Altar in Nanjing only had an altar but no hall. Even if it rains heavily and the clothes and sacrifices on the altar are soaked by the rain, they dare not move casually.
Later, many ministers suggested building a dining hall. Zhu Yuanzhang was afraid that he would offend Heaven and block the "Qi of Heaven and Earth", so he did not build a palace. Instead, if it rained during the festival, he would stay in the palace far away from the palace. sacrifice.
During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Di built the palace altar and temple in Beijing, the system of the Sheji Altar was the same as that in Nanjing. Only an extra temple was built on the north side of the altar. It was not used at ordinary times and was only used during wind and rain. In the hall, an altar facing the south is set up for worship, so it is named the Worship Hall. This ceremony continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty.
To the south of the hall is the Sheji Altar. The Sheji Altar is a square three-story platform made of white marble, with four protrusions, each with three levels, and a total height of nearly 1 meter. Shrink layer by layer from bottom to top. Each floor is surrounded by white stone railings, and the middle is filled with Sanhe soil. The upper floor is 15 meters long, the second floor is about 16.8 meters long, and the lower floor is about 17.8 meters long.
The Sheji Altar was built in strict accordance with the ancient system. The upper layer of the altar is covered with five-color soil, with yellow in the middle, green in the east, red in the south, white in the west, and black in the north, symbolizing the five elements. Walls were built around the altar, and there were Lingxing gates in the east, west, and south.
There is a wall around the altar. The top of the wall is covered with glazed bricks in four colors: green, red, white and black according to the direction. Each side of the wall is 62 meters long and 1.7 meters high. There is a white marble star gate on all four sides. , the door frames are also made of stone, and were originally equipped with two red leaves.
In addition to the Sheji Altar, Xiang Hall, and Jimen in the southwest, there are also the Divine Kitchen and the Divine Treasury within the walls of the inner altar. They sit west and face east, with a width of five rooms and a depth of five purlins. They are parallel to the north and south. A passing hall was built in the middle, and a gate was opened on the west side of the inner altar wall, leading to the slaughtering pavilion on the wall.
The slaughtering pavilion is located on the south side of the west gate of the altar wall. It is a place for slaughtering and offering sacrifices. It has yellow glazed tiles on the top of the mountain, double eaves at the four corners, square shape, 3 bays wide on each side, and a well pavilion in the southeast of the pavilion.
There is a wall outside it, which is connected to the west altar wall. In the middle of the north wall, there is a masonry structure and a glazed gate. It rests on the top of the mountain with yellow glazed tiles. It has a wide face and imitation wood under the eaves. Green glazed three steps on the dougong.
The circumference of the outer altar wall is about 2,000 meters. In the middle of the west verandah inside Tiananmen is the Sheji Street Gate. To the east, there are yellow glazed tube tiles resting on the top of the mountain. It is five rooms wide and three rooms deep. The west verandah inside Duanmen is the left gate of the society, with yellow glazed tiles resting on the top of the mountain. It is three rooms wide and one room deep. The northeast gate of Sheji Altar is west of the right gate of the Meridian Gate. It was originally a three-door gate with yellow tiles.
To the southwest of the worship hall, people can see an octagonal stone pavilion called "Lanting Stele Pavilion". It was originally located at one of the forty sceneries of Yuanmingyuan, "Sitting on a Stone and Facing the Stream". It was later moved to here.
The pavilion has a double eaves, blue tiles and octagonal spire. There is an Orchid Pavilion stele inside the pavilion. The Orchid Pavilion stele is engraved with a picture of a flowing water cup, and on the back there is a poem "Orchid Pavilion Poems" written by Qianlong. The pavilion plaque is titled "Scenery is created by nature".
The eight pillars in the pavilion are engraved with copies of Wang Xizhi's "Lanting Preface" and Liu Gongquan's "Lanting Poems". They are powerful and powerful and have high value in the history of Chinese calligraphy.
There are also many ancient cypresses in the Sheji Altar. Most of them were planted when the altar was built in the Ming Dynasty. The ancient cypress branches are an important part of the altar environment. Among them is the "Sophora japonica and cypress" tree, which is a pair of Sophora japonica and cypress trees hugging each other. It is a spectacular sight with lush branches and leaves, and is a unique scene in the garden.