The Temple of Heaven (Tiantan)
According to historical records, the formal worship of heaven and earth can be traced back to the Xia Dynasty, which was still in the slavery system in the second millennium BC. Ancient Chinese emperors called themselves "sons of heaven," and they had great respect for heaven and earth. Every emperor in history regarded sacrificing to heaven and earth as a very important political activity. The sacrificial buildings were of great importance in the construction of the imperial capitals, which were built with the highest level of technology and the most perfect art by concentrating manpower, material and financial resources. The Temple of Heaven, built in the late feudal society, is the most representative work among many sacrificial buildings in China. The Temple of Heaven is not only a pearl in Chinese ancient architecture, but also a treasure in the world's architectural history. The Temple of Heaven was built in the 18th year of the Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty (1920), and was called the Temple of Heaven and Earth. Jiajing nine years (1530) due to the establishment of the four suburbs of the sacrificial system, in the thirteenth year of Jiajing (1534) renamed the Temple of Heaven. The Qing Emperor Qianlong, Guangxu remodeling remodeling, before the formation of the current pattern of the Temple of Heaven Park.
The Temple of Heaven covers an area of 2.72 million square meters, the entire area than the Forbidden City (the Forbidden City) is still a little larger, there are two walls, forming the inner and outer altar, altar wall south and north, symbolizing the circle of heaven and earth. Huanqiu altar in the south, pray for the Valley altar in the north, the two altars with a north-south axis, separated by a wall. Huanqiu altar in the main buildings are Huanqiu altar, the royal dome, etc., pray for the Valley altar in the main buildings are the Hall of Prayer, Huangqian Hall, Prayer Gate, etc..
The main buildings of the Temple of Heaven are all located in the inner altar, arranged in a straight line from south to north. All palaces and altar bases are facing south in a circle to symbolize heaven. The whole layout and architectural structure, have a unique style. Prayer Hall is the emperor prayed for a good harvest of grains place, is a three-feathered round hall, 38 meters high, 32.72 meters in diameter, blue glazed tile roof, all brick and wood structure, no big beams and long purlins, relying on the 28 wooden pillars and 36 square jiao support, in the shape of the building has a high artistic value.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the sky and the earth were originally combined together to worship, the north and south of the altar of the countryside are the same, set up sacrifices in the place called the Great Sacrifice Hall, is a square eleven buildings. The Ming Dynasty Jiajing nine years (1530) changed to heaven and earth to sacrifice, in the Temple of Heaven to build Huanqiu altar, dedicated to the sky, and in the northern suburbs of the construction of the altar of square Ze sacrifices to the ground, the original joint sacrifice of heaven and earth of the Hall of the Great Sacrifice, and gradually abolished and not used. Jiajing nineteen years (1540), and the original Hall of Great Sacrifice into the Hall of Great Harmony, the round building from now on.
After the Qing Dynasty entered the country, everything was still according to the old system of the Ming Dynasty. Qianlong period, the country rich and powerful, the Temple of Heaven is also a big project. Qianlong twelve years (1747), the emperor decided to rebuild the inner and outer walls of the Temple of Heaven, change the earth wall for the city of bricks, the center to the top of the city of bricks wrapped in two layers. The width of the top of the wall of the inner altar wall is reduced to create four feet eight inches, without the eaves, become no porch columns hanging eaves corridor. After remodeling the Temple of Heaven inside and outside the altar wall, more thick, circumference of more than ten miles, become a very magnificent landscape. Temple of Heaven's main buildings such as the Hall of Prayer for the Year of the Dragon, the Royal Dome, Huanqiu, etc. are also remodeled at this time, and has survived to this day.
Huanqiu altar, also known as the altar to heaven, worship platform, altar, is an open-air three-tiered circular stone altar, for the emperor's winter solstice place of worship for the emperor, was built in the Ming Jiajing nine years (1530), the Qing dynasty in the fourteenth year of qianlong (1749) expansion. Altar circumference of 534 meters, altar height of 5.2 meters, divided into the upper, middle and lower three layers, each layer of the railings lookout columns and the number of steps are with the number of yang (also known as the "number of days", that is, multiples of nine), Fu "nine and a half" of the dignity. Altar surface with aiye green stone masonry. Altar surface in addition to the center stone is round, peripheral circles are fan-shaped, the number is also Yang. Each layer has white jade balustrades and pillars, all of which are multiples of nine. Upper house railings 72 pieces, 108 pieces of the middle layer, the lower 180 pieces, together with the 360 circumference of the number of days. Ancient people believe that nine is the pole of the Yang number, said the highest and greatest, the emperor is the son of heaven, also the highest and greatest, so the whole Huanqiu altar are used in multiples of nine to indicate the authority of the son of heaven. The Huanqiu Altar is surrounded by two walls, one square and the other round, symbolizing the circle of heaven and the earth. The ancillary buildings of the Huanqiu Altar include the Imperial Vault and its hips, the Divine Treasury, the Pavilion of Sacrifice, and the Three Treasures (the Treasury of Sacrificial Vessels, the Treasury of Musical Instruments, and the Treasury of Palm Recommendations), and so on. Standing at the top of the Huanqiu altar in the center of the round stone above the small voice, but it seems very loud. Therefore, whenever the emperor sacrificed to heaven here, its loud voice, as the oracle of heaven in general, coupled with the solemn atmosphere of the ritual, more mysterious effect. This is because the altar surface is smooth, sound waves can quickly spread in all directions, touching the surrounding stone fences, reflecting back, and the original sound convergence, the volume is doubled.
The Imperial Vault is located to the north of the Huanqiu Altar, and is the place for storing the sacred tablets. Built in Ming Jiajing nine years (1530), the first name of the Thai God Hall, Jiajing seventeen years (1538) renamed the Royal Dome. For the heavy eaves and rounded pointed roof building. Qing dynasty qianlong seventeen years (1752) rebuilt, changed to gilt roof single eaves blue tile round pointed roof. There are east and west hipped each 5 rooms. Its main hall and the east and west hips *** surrounded by a flat and smooth round wall, people in different positions in the wall face wall talk, standing in the far wall, can be heard very clearly, this is the echo wall. Royal dome under the steps, there are three slabs, that is, the echo stone: stand on the first slab against the steps, high-five, you can hear an echo, stand on the second slab on the palm, you can hear two echoes, stand on the third slab on the palm, you can hear three echoes.
The echo wall is the wall of the Royal Dome. The wall is 3.72 meters high, 0.9 meters thick, 61.5 meters in diameter and 193.2 meters in circumference. The wall is made of milled bricks built in pairs, and the wall is covered with blue glazed tiles. The curvature of the enclosure was very regular, and the walls were extremely smooth and neat, and the refraction of sound waves was very regular. As long as two people were standing in the east and west of the hall, standing against the wall, a person leaning against the wall to the north to speak, the sound wave will be continuously refracted along the wall forward, to one or two hundred meters to the other end, no matter how small the sound of the speech, but also to make the other side hear clearly, and the sound is long and interesting, to create a kind of "celestial inductance" of the mysterious atmosphere. Mysterious atmosphere. So called "echo wall".
Huanqiu altar, the Royal Dome, Prayer Valley altar is the central axis of the three main buildings, connecting the three main buildings is a long north-south pedestal, called Danhaji Bridge, also known as the Divine Road or Haidian Avenue. It is 360 meters long, 29.4 meters wide, 1 meter high at the southern end, from south to north gradually rose to 3 meters, symbolizing the road and the Palace of Heaven, the emperor from south to north step by step to heaven. The center of Danjie Bridge is the Divine Way, the left side is the Imperial Way, and the right side is the King's Way. The emperor walks on the Royal Road, the princes and ministers walk on the King's Road, and the gods walk on the God's Road. Under the bridge there are east-west tunnels, which are the holes where animals are sent to slaughter before sacrifice.
The main building of the Temple of Heaven is the Hall of Prayer for the Year of the Dragon, which was built in the 18th year of the Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty (1420). Every year, the emperor held a ceremony to pray for favorable winds and rain and a good harvest here. The Hall of Prayer for the Year of the Dragon is circular in shape with a diameter of 32 meters, and the Hall of Prayer for the Year of the Dragon is 38 meters high, which is a round hall with three eaves with a gilt roof, and the eaves of the hall are dark blue in color, which are paved with blue glazed tiles, because the sky is blue, thus symbolizing the sky.
Its architectural excellence is that the Hall of Prayer for the Year of the Dragon uses 28 large pillars of nanmu and 36 interlocking lists, jiao, to support the eaves of the three-tiered conjoined hall. These large columns have different symbolic meanings: the central four columns called Tongtianzhu, on behalf of the four seasons; the middle twelve gold columns, on behalf of the twelve months; the outer twelve gable columns, on behalf of the twelve hours; the middle and outer plus twenty-four on behalf of the twenty-four seasons; the three tiers plus twenty-eight, on behalf of the twenty-eight starry nights; plus columns on the top of the eight children's columns, on behalf of the thirty-six Big Dipper; the top of the throne under the Lei Gongzhu, on behalf of the emperor to unite the world. Its ancillary buildings are Huangqian Hall, Praying for the year door, God Treasury, God Kitchen, Zaijia Pavilion, burnt wood furnace, Dizhikan, with clothing platform, walk the animal road and 72 corridors, etc.. The square south of the promenade has a seven-star stone, stone carved mountain cloud pattern, is the town of Ming Jiajing placed stone.
The hall is situated on a round alabaster pedestal with an area of more than 5,900 square meters, which is divided into 3 levels and 6 meters high, with carved alabaster railings on each level. This pedestal and the hall are inseparable from the artistic whole. When visitors step out of the Hall of Prayer, looking south, only to see the straight tunnel, stretching south, all the way to the porch heavy, the farther the smaller, endless, there is a kind of feeling from the sky down. No wonder a French architectural expert said after visiting the Temple of Heaven: skyscrapers much higher than the Hall of Prayer, but not the Hall of Prayer that kind of lofty and profound mood, can not reach the Hall of Prayer's artistic height. This hall in 1889 (Qing Guangxu fifteen years) was struck by lightning fire burned, it is said that the hall's pillars were made of incense wood, burning, the smell of incense, miles away can be smelled. In the following year, the emperor summoned his ministers to discuss the reconstruction of the Hall of Prayer. Because they could not find any drawings, the Ministry of Public Works, which is in charge of national construction affairs, called the craftsmen who had participated in the restoration of the Hall of Prayers, and asked them to make drawings based on their memories and dictations, and then constructed the building. Therefore, the present prayer hall is the building of the Qing dynasty in the Guangxu period, but, the basic architectural form, structure, still retains the appearance of the Ming dynasty.
Inside the Hall of Prayer for the Year of the Dragon, the ceiling is a delicate "nine dragons algal wells", the dragon well columns are painted in gold. In the center of the hall there is a flat round marble, stone surface pattern, is the natural formation of the dragon and phoenix pattern, a row of dragons holding a phoenix, this is the "dragon and phoenix stone", "dragon and phoenix present auspiciousness". Legend has it that the stone originally only phoenix pattern, and the top of the temple well only carved dragon, over the years, the dragon, phoenix inspiration, the golden dragon often fly down to find phoenix stone on the phoenix to find joy. Unexpectedly met one day is the emperor Jiajing to sacrifice to heaven, kneeling on the stone salute, the golden dragon can not fly back in time, and the stone on the phoenix together with the emperor was pressed into the round stone inside the emperor Jiajing, and never come out, and from then on to become a deep and a shallow dragon and phoenix stone. 1889 pray for the year the temple was burned, this piece of the dragon and phoenix stone by the fire burned a day and night, although the stone is not burned to pieces, but the dragon pattern was burned into the light black, phoenix pattern was burned to blur. The stone was burned for a day and night. In front of the Hall of Prayer for the Year of the Dragon, there are nine rooms in each of the east and west side halls, known as the east hiatus and the west hiatus, which are the repositories for the collection of the tablets of the gods. The Ming Dynasty, in addition to praying to the Emperor God, but also with the Imperial Zhu ancestors, as well as the sun, the moon, five stars, east, west, south, north, the five major yue, five small yue of the five towns, the four seas, four blasphemies (rivers and lakes), the winds and clouds, thunder and rain, mountains, rivers, taiyou, Taoism and other deities and emperors and so on.
Another important building of the Prayer Valley Altar is the Huangqian Hall, which is situated in a rectangular courtyard surrounded by the Prayer Wall and connected by a glazed gate. It is a hipped hall covered with blue glazed tiles and a pedestal base with alabaster stone balustrades underneath. The hall was designed to enshrine the "God of Heaven" and the gods of the emperor's ancestors. The divine version are enshrined in the shape of the shrine like a house, every lunar calendar, the first and fifteenth, the management of the rituals of the Yamen regularly send officials to sweep the dust, on the incense. The day before the festival, the emperor to this incense salute, by the Ministry of Rites Shangshu incense, three kneeling and nine kowtow rituals and then by the Secretary of the Taishang Temple rate of officials will be invited to the Dragon Pavilion, placed by the Luang Yiwei sample erbium lifted to the Hall of Prayer for the year in the corresponding god to be put in place, to be sacrificed.
Lai Palace is located in the Temple of Heaven West Tianmen South, sitting west to east, is the emperor came to the Temple of Heaven to pray for the Valley, praying for heaven before fasting and bathing place. Therefore, it can also be said to be a small palace. It is built with a palace city, the palace wall has two layers: the outer layer is called the brick wall, the inner city is called the purple wall. The outer city is mainly a defense facility, built in the four corners of the outer city guard room. Northeast corner of the outer city has a bell tower, every time the emperor in and out of the Palace, are to ring the bell to welcome. Jaigong inner city before, in, after three parts. The front part of the main hall as the center; the rear part of the emperor's inner chambers; the central part is a long and narrow courtyard, the courtyard at each end of the corridor tile room five, is in charge of eunuchs and chief eunuchs of the duty room. Jaigong area of 40,000 square meters, there are more than 200 architectural houses, although not as brilliant as the Forbidden City, but the scale is also very grand, and elegant and secluded. Ming and Qing emperors were in the festival before this "fasting" three days, only the Yongzheng Emperor later "fasting" the first two days to change the Forbidden City in the Jaigong "fasting", the last day before moving to the Temple of Heaven! Jaigong. Outside the twofold Royal ditch, outside the ditch around the inner bank with 163 corridors. Palace face east, the main hall 5, for the beamless hall for coupon masonry structure. The main hall on the platform of the fasting bronze pavilion and the hours of the tablets Pavilion, behind the temple has a bedchamber 5, the northeast corner of a bell tower, hanging inside the Yongle years of the system of Taihe bell a mouthful.
Shrine Music Department in the Huanqiu altar in the northwest outside the door, was built in the Ming Dynasty Yongle eighteen years (1420). It was built in the 18th year of the Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty (1420). In the Ming Dynasty, it was called Shenxiangxian, and at that time, the music and dance officials and dancers of Shenxiangxian were all Taoist priests. When the capital was moved to Beijing in the 18th year of the Ming Dynasty, there were 300 music and dance students accompanying the driver into Beijing, and there were about 600 music and dance students in the Ming Dynasty. By the time Jiajing music and dance students totaled 2200.
No. 200-021
The Temple of Heaven was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1998 according to Criterion C(I)(II)(III).
World Heritage Committee evaluation
The Temple of Heaven, built in the first half of the 15th century A.D. in the midst of a royal garden and surrounded by ancient pines, is a well-preserved complex of altars and temples, which, both in terms of their overall layout and in terms of the individual buildings, reflect the relationship between heaven and earth, a relationship that occupies a central place in the ancient Chinese concept of the universe. At the same time, these buildings also reflect the unique role played by emperors and generals in this relationship.