The Temple of Heaven - You can not ignore when to Beijing!

 Address: China, Beijing, Dongcheng, 天壇東路1号
Hours: Open today · 6:00 am – 8:00 pm
Phone: +86 10 6702 8866

The Temple of Heaven is one of four international temples in Beijing includes the Temple of Heaven, the Temple of Earth, the Temple of the Moon and the Temple of Sun. Among them, the Temple of Heaven is the largest, most important and best known in Chinese history. The Temple of Heaven is not only China's largest and most representative existing masterpiece but also the most holy of Beijing's imperial temples.

The Temple of Heaven Park is located in the Chongwen District, southern Beijing. This is the place where the emperors of the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644) and Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911) would worship the god of heaven and solemnly pray for a good harvest once a year at winter solsticeor in other words, they held the Heaven Worship Ceremony.The Temple of Heaven has also been listed as one of the World Cultural Relics by the UNESCO in 1998.

The Temple of Heaven was built in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1420) by the emperor by the 18th year of the reign of Emperor Yongle. During the reigns of the Ming emperor Jiajing and the Qing emperor Qianlong, it was extended and rebuilt.

The Temple of Heaven - You can not ignore when to Beijing!

To better symbolize heaven and earth,the northern part of the temple is circularwhich symbolizes the heavens, and the southern part is square - symbolizing the earth, which reflect the ancient Chinese belief. The northern part is higher than the southern part shows that the heaven is high and the earth is low. Its mighty architectural style and deep cultural meaning givesan insight into the practices of the ancient Eastern civilization.
Covering an area of 273 hectares, the temple is divided by two enclosed walls into inner altar and outer altar.The main buildings lie from the south to north of the middle axis of the inner part. The main buildings are the Altar of Prayer for Good Harvests, Circular Mound Altar and Imperial Vault of Heaven.

Circular Mound Altar is the center for the emperors would offer sacrifice here to Heaven on the day of the Winter Solstice every year. A circular wall of polished bricks known as the Echo Wall encloses the Imperial Vault of Heaven, where houses the Gods’ tablets to be used at the Heaven Worship Ceremony. The Altar of Prayer for Good Harvest stands on a round foundation built with three levels of marble stones, where the emperor held the worship ceremonies to pray for good weather and abundant harvests.

When tourists go into the Temple, they can have a feeling of solemnity, respectfulness, holiness and quietness will well up in the mind.