Hall of Annual Prayer, the largest building in the Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven, literally the Altar of Heaven (Traditional Chinese: 天壇; Simplified Chinese: 天坛; pinyin: Tiān Tán) is situated in south eastern urban Beijing, in Xuanwu District. Construction of the Temple began in 1420, and was thereafter visited by all subsequent Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is a temple of Taoism. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1880x1395, 751 KB) The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, Temple of Heaven, Beijng Photographer: Saad Akhtar Source: http://www. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1880x1395, 751 KB) The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, Temple of Heaven, Beijng Photographer: Saad Akhtar Source: http://www. ... Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiÇŽntǐzì; also called 简化字/簡化字, jiÇŽnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Pinyin (拼音, pÄ«nyÄ«n) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin. ...   Beijing? (Chinese: 北京; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Pei-ching; Postal System Pinyin: Peking) is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... Xuanwu District (Simplified Chinese: 宣武区, Hanyu Pinyin: Xuānwǔ Qū) is a district of the municipality of Beijing. ... Events May 21 - Treaty of Troyes. ... The Ming Dynasty (Chinese: 明朝; Pinyin: míng cháo) was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, though claims to the Ming throne (now collectively called the Southern Ming) survived until 1662. ... The Qing Dynasty (Manchu: daicing gurun; Chinese: 清朝; pinyin: qīng cháo; Wade-Giles: ching chao), sometimes known as the Manchu Dynasty, was founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China expanded into China proper and the surrounding territories of Inner Asia, establishing the... The Yin-Yang or Taiji diagram, often used as a symbol in Taoism. ...

The Temple grounds covers 2.73 km² of parkland, and comprises three main groups of constructions, all built according to strict philosophical requirements: Philosophy (from the Greek words philos and sophia meaning love of wisdom) is understood in different ways historically and by different philosophers. ...

• The Earthly Mount (圜丘坛), an empty platform on three levels of marble stones, where the Emperor prayed for favourable weather;
• The House of Heavenly Lord (皇穹宇), a single-gabled circular building, built on a single level of marble stone base, where the altars were housed when not in use;
• The Hall of Annual Prayer (祈年殿), a magnificent triple-gabled circular building, built on three levels of marble stone base, where the Emperor prayed for good harvests.

In ancient China, the emperor was regarded as the "Son of Heaven", who administered earthly matters on behalf of, and representing, heavenly authority. To be seen to be showing respect to the source of his authority, in the form of sacrifices to heaven, was extremely important. The temple was built for these ceremonies, mostly comprised of prayers for good harvests. The emperor or huangdi (皇帝 in pinyin: huang2 di4) of China was the head of government and head of state of China from the Qin dynasty in 221 B.C. until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911. ... Sacrifice (from a Middle English verb meaning to make sacred, from Old French, from Latin sacrificium : sacer, sacred; sacred + facere, to make) is commonly known as the practice of offering food, or the lives of animals or people to the gods, as an act of propitiation or worship. ...

Each winter solstice the emperor and all his retinue would move through the city to encamp within the complex, wearing special robes and abstaining from eating meat; there the Emperor would personally pray to Heaven for good harvests. The ceremony had to be perfectly completed; it was widely held that the smallest of mistakes would constitute a bad omen for the whole nation in the coming year. Illumination of Earth by Sun on the day of winter solstice on northern hemisphere In astronomy, the winter solstice is the moment when the earth is in a point of its orbit at which the northern hemisphere is most inclined away from the sun. ... A dragon robe from Qing Dynasty of China A robe is a loose-fitting outer garment of various types, including: A gown worn as part of the academic dress of faculty or students, especially for ceremonial occasions, such as a convocations or graduations. ... Meat is animal tissue (mainly muscle) used as food. ... The heavens are the sky, the celestial sphere, or outer space. ... A ceremony is an activity, infused with ritual significance, performed on a certain occasion. ... This article is about Omens as divinatory portents. ...

Inside the Hall of Annual Prayer.

The Temple of Heaven is the grandest of the four great temples located in Beijing. The other prominent temples include The Temple of Sun in the east (日坛), The Temple of Earth in the north (地坛), and The Temple of Moon in the west (月坛). Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1575x2100, 1000 KB) The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, Temple of Heaven, Beijng Photographer: Saad Akhtar Source: http://www. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1575x2100, 1000 KB) The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, Temple of Heaven, Beijng Photographer: Saad Akhtar Source: http://www. ...   Beijing? (Chinese: 北京; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Pei-ching; Postal System Pinyin: Peking) is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... The Temple of Sun (日坛) in Beijing, China, is in the eastern urban area, around the Jianguomen area, near the embassy district. ...

The Temple of Heaven was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998. UNESCO logo The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, commonly known as UNESCO, is a specialized agency of the United Nations system established in 1946. ... Elabana Falls is in Lamington National Park, part of the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves World Heritage site in Queensland, Australia. ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...

As of June 2005, the site is under renovation and its access is limited for tourists.

Facts and figures

• The Temple is surrounded by two cordons of walls; the outer wall has a taller, semi-circular northern end, representing the Heaven, and a shorter, rectangular southern end, representing the Earth.

• All the buildings within the Temple have special dark blue roof tiles, again representing the Heaven.

• The Altar of Heaven was constructed with details representing the number nine, the representative number of the Emperor. If you stand at the centre of the platform and clap your hands, you can hear the echo.

• The House of Heavenly Lord is surrounded by a curved wall, 6 metres tall and 32.5 metres in radius. It is nicknamed the 'Echo Wall' because a person at one end of the wall can hear the voice of a person at the other end of the wall.

• The Hall of Annual Prayer is 32 metres in diameter and 38 metres tall. It has four inner, twelve middle and twelve outer pillars, representing the four seasons, twelve months and twelve traditional Chinese hours respectively.

The heavens are the sky, the celestial sphere, or outer space. ... Earth, also known as the Earth, Terra, and (mostly in the 19th century) Tellus, is the third-closest planet to the Sun. ... 9 (nine) is the natural number following 8 and preceding 10. ... metre or meter, see meter (disambiguation) The metre is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units. ... Pillar is a Christian rock band. ... A season is one of the major divisions of the year, generally based on yearly periodic changes in weather. ... In Egyptian mythology, Month is an alternate spelling for Menthu. ... The hour was originally defined in Egypt as 1/24 of a day, based on their duo-decimal numbering system (which counted finger joints on each hand). ...

More Images

Inside the Hall of Annual Prayer Image File history File links Download high resolution version (480x640, 314 KB)The interior of the Hall of Annual Prayer. ...

The Echo Wall pavilion is located directly south of the Hall of Annual prayer Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 536 KB)The Echo Wall pavilion is a part of the Temple of Heaven complex. ...

Imperial Vault of Heaven Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2592x1944, 874 KB) The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, Temple of Heaven, Beijng Photographer: Saad Akhtar Source: http://www. ...

Hall of Annual Prayer Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x1536, 138 KB) El Salón de la Oración por la Buena Cosecha del Tempo del Cielo de Pekín. ...

External link

Satellite photo of the site