The Temple of Heaven Beijing
The Temple of Heaven is one of the top historical attractions in Beijing which was considered to the best examples of religious architecture in China. It was built from 1406 to 1420 in Ming dynasty. It is double size of the Forbidden City Beijing. The emperors came to Temple of Heaven at the winter solstice to offer sacrifices to heaven-momentous occasions for which the temple’s grandeur and simplicity provided a fitting background.
The temple’s design symbolized certain tenets of their beliefs. The altar and temple buildings are located within a wall which is half-circular to the north and square to the south. During Yongle period, annual sacrifices to the earth at the summer solstice were also performed here. The outline of the enclosure represented the imagined shapes of heaven (curved) and earth (square). Note that the roof tiles of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests are deep blue, the color of the sky.
