Temple of Heaven 天坛

The Temple of Heaven is the penultimate symbol of Ming dynasty architecture and its beauty is known throughout China. The Temple of Heaven literally Altar of Heaven is a place for Ming emperors pray and offer sacrifices for the good harvest. This explains that Divine Kitchen that is found in the north west of the park. The Temple of Heaven at the center of the temple complex here with a building in each of the cardinal directions. It was commissioned during Emperor Yongle’s reign and was continually expanded by succeeding emperors.

Unlike most temples I have seen, this temple is circular. This place is full of symbolisms and the shape of the temple itself is already one of them – heaven. Even seemingly minor detail are actually quite significant. There will be too many of them to mention here but one of the more common symbolisms that appear is the number 9 which symbolizes the emperor. As expected there were tons of tourists here and my timing couldn’t have been worse, it was already sunset and it seems that this is a good time to visit the Temple of Heaven. My hopes of having luck similar to my visit to Jinshanling Great Wall where there weren’t any people were quickly dashed. I shouldn’t have bothered hoping.

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