A Peek Inside the Temple of Heaven 天坛

I have been spending most of my time taking photos of the magnificent Temple of Heaven from the outside, as do hundreds of other tourists there. However, it is also possible to view the inside of the temple. The front door of the temple is open to visitors, however, visitors will can only have a peek inside the temple as it is not possible to enter the temple itself. There is usually a mass of people at the temple front door trying to get a glimpse of what it looks like from the outside.

It took me quite a bit of effort to see what was inside the temple. The doors themselves were not very wide and can only accomodate around 5 people in the front row, thus there is always a jam of people at this spot. There is a guide who can tell you what you are seeing but she was already off by the time I got there. I was half expecting to see something like a throne room for something this grand. The temple itself was dark since there wasn’t electricity back there. Fire was used to light up the inside of the temple whenever it is in use.

I can barely see inside since it was so dark but it was obvious that the it was also just as ornate inside as it is outside. I was lucky my camera was still able to see the inside of the temple even though I couldn’t. Since it was dark, I would need a longer exposure time to take a photo, however with a lot of people jostling around you, this is easier said than done.

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