Temple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven, formerly known as "Heaven and Earth Altar", is located on the east side of Yongdingmen Street in Dongcheng District, Beijing. It was a place where emperors in Ming and Qing Dynasties offered sacrifices to heaven, prayed for valleys and prayed for rain. It is the largest existing ancient sacrificial building complex in China. The Temple of Heaven was founded in the 18th year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty (1420), and was renamed as "Temple of Heaven" in the 9th year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (1530). The Temple of Heaven is surrounded by double altar walls and divided into two altars, the inner altar and the outer altar.
Its main ancient buildings are concentrated in the inner altar. There is an east-west partition wall in the middle of the inner altar to divide the inner altar into two parts, north and south, and there are doors in the partition wall. The inner altar consists of three groups of ancient buildings: dome, prayer flag altar and Zhaigong. Valley prayer altar is located in the north of the inner altar, Waqiu altar is located in the south of the inner altar, and Zhai Palace is located in the west of the inner altar. A single pen bridge with a length of 360 meters, a width of 28 meters and a height of 2.5 meters connects the Waqiu altar and the valley prayer altar.
The inner altar is surrounded by East Gate, Beitianmen, Xitianmen, Guanglimen, Zhaohengmen and Taiyuan Gate. The Temple of Heaven has high historical value, scientific value, unique artistic value and profound cultural connotation.
Knowledge expansion:
The valley prayer altar area is located on the north side of the inner altar of the Temple of Heaven. The gate is called the Year Prayer Gate, and the north gate is the altar. The hall for praying for the New Year is built in the middle of the upper altar. The hall is a pyramid-shaped circular hall with blue glazed tiles, triple eaves and a golden dome. The hall is 38 meters high. In the north of the Hall of Prayer for the New Year, there is Huang Gan Hall, which is the place where the altar of Prayer for the New Year in the valley worships the gods. Outside the east gate of the Valley Blessing Altar, there are ancillary buildings such as the God Library, the God Kitchen Sacrificial Pavilion and the Promenade.
The architecture of the Temple of Heaven displays the unique meaning and symbolic artistic expression of China traditional culture everywhere. Its main buildings, the dome, the Hall of Prayer for the New Year and the Royal Vault, all adopt circular planes, while the brick exterior walls of the Hall of Prayer for the New Year and the dome are square. The double altar walls inside and outside the Temple of Heaven are also round from north to south, which means "a round place".
Its technical structure also uses odd numbers, years and other related figures because of the characteristics of building appearance and the meaning of "day". The roof of the main building is covered with blue glazed tiles, which symbolizes the blue sky and makes the sacrifice sacred and noble.