Today,wellgotovisittheTempleofHeaven.First,I'llgiveyouabriefintroductionofit.TheTempleofHeavenissituatedinthesouthernpartofBeijing.Itwasfirstbuiltin1420intheMingDynasty.Itcoversanareaof273hectares.TheTempleofHeavenisnotonlythelargestgroupoftemplebuildinginChina,butalsothelargestheaven-worshippingarchitectureintheworld.
OriginallytheTempleofHeavenwasbuiltaccordingtotheTempleofHeavenandEarthinNanjing,sobothheavenandearthwereworshipedhere,thenitwascalledTempleofHeavenandEarthatthattime.In1530,anotherstructure,TempleofEarthwasbuiltinthenorthernpartofBeijingandtheHeavenandEarthwereworshippedseparately.SinceonlyHeavenwasworshippedinhere,itwasrenamedtheTempleofHeaven.
DuringtheMingandQingdynasties,theTempleofHeavenwastheplacewheretheemperorscametoworshiptheGodofHeavenandprayforgoodharvest.Theemperorscameheretwiceayear.Thefirsttimewasonthe15thdayofthefirstlunarmonth.TheemperorwouldcometotheHalloftheprayerforGoodHarvestandheldabigceremonytoprayforabumperharvest.ThesecondtimewasonWinterSolstice,andasacrificialceremonywouldbeheldattheCircularMountAltartoofferasacrificetotheHeaven.
Beingasacredplaceforworshippingheaven,theTempleofHeavenhadbeentwiceseriouslydamagedbytheAnglo-FrenchAlliedForcesin1860andtheinvadingtroopsoftheeightpowersin1900.
Architecturallyspeaking,theTempleofHeavenhastwothemes:theheaveandtheearth.ThesurroundingwallsoftheTempleofHeavenare6metershighwithasemicircularwalltothenorthandsquareshapedwalltothesouth.Thisrepresentsanancientbeliefthattheheavenwasroundandtheearthwassquare.TherearethreemainbuildingsintheTempleofHeaven,theyare:theHallofPrayerforGoodHarvests,theImperialHeavenlyVaultandtheCircularMoundAltar.