Temple of Heaven

Tuesday, 12th July 2005 by

The Temple of Heaven is a temple of Taoism in Beijing. If you zoom out a little you'll see that the northern section is enclosed in a semi circular wall (representing heaven) while the southern section is within a rectangle (representing earth). The northern part is also higher for the same reason.

To the north is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, which is connected to the Imperial Vault of Heaven by the Vermilion Steps Bridge, or "Sacred Way". You can see that the sacred way is split into two halves, one side for emperors and the other for princes and high officials, although I think tourists now happily walk up either side. The circles to the south of the Imperial Vault of Heaven is the Circular Altar.

Surrounding the Imperial Vault of Heaven is the echo wall, where apparently if you whisper to the wall on one side the sound is echoed right around the wall to the other side, where you can be clearly heard.

Thanks: Feng Wu