Along with the Forbidden City and Tan An Men square, the Temple of Heaven is one of the fantastic must see attractions in Beijing.
The architecture is amazing, the history behind the Temple of Heaven enthralling, easy to get to (unlike the Great Walls) and very photogenic.
Background - What is the Temple of Heaven? Very simply, it is the temple the Chinese Emperor used to worship heaven, pray for good harvests and make sacrifices.
Human sacrifices! In ancient China, the emperor was believed to be the son of heaven, heavens representative and ruled earth with heavens mandate.
Trips to the Temple of Heaven and ceremonies there were important because they helped legitimise the emperor's position.
Agriculture was the foundation of wealth in imperial China so praying for good harvest was (believed to be) very beneficial.
If harvest were bad, the stability of the emperor's reign would be threatened so annual trips to the Temple of Heaven, like visits to the in-laws, could not be avoided.
You can be sure that after a bad year, the emperor's prayers would be very passionate and fervent.
Twice a year (Winter solstice and Spring) the emperor, the court and Beijing's royal A list would dress in their Sunday finest, leave the Forbidden City and travel to the Temple of Heaven where they would set up camp for the ceremonies duration.
Interestingly the journey to the Temple of Heaven was not public and ordinary citizens were forbidden from watching the procession.
The winter solstice trip was when the emperor made human offerings to heaven and in spring trip was when the emperor prayed for good harvest.
History - The temple was built from 1406 to 1420 by Emperor Yong Le of the Ming Dynasty who died four years after construction was complete.
At the time, the temple was built as the temple of heaven and earth but later a Ming Emperor Jia Jiang built the Temple of Earth so the temple of heaven and earth had to be renamed as the temple of heaven.
Temple Layout - As the son of heaven, the emperor was not able to make his home bigger than the symbolic home for heaven so the Temple of heaven with 2.
7 million with 2.
7 million square meters is much bigger than the Forbidden City.
The temple has two main parts.
The northern part is a semicircle symbolizing the heavens while the southern part is square symbolizing earth.
Ancient Chinese believed that heaven was round and the earth was square.
Very similar to the European belief at the time that the world was flat! The main buildings in the temple are the Circular Mound Alter, Imperial Vault of Heaven and the Hall of Prayers for Good Harvest.
The temple also houses minor structures such as the echo wall.
Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest - A stunningly beautiful round building sitting on a 6 meter tall 3 tiered marble base.
This building is 32 meters tall and built without any nails or metal of any kind.
The emperor prayed here for good harvest.
Circular Mound Alter - The alter is encircled by two walls.
The inner wall is round and represents heaven and the outer wall is square and represents earth.
The mound itself is made of three round terraces.
The outer terrace represents hell, the middle terrace represents the mortal world and the inner terrace represents Heaven.
The centre of the inner terrace holds a round slate called Heaven's heart stone.
It is at this stone that the emperor worshiped heaven at the winter solstice.
Imperial Vault of Heaven - Is similar in structure to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest.
This building is the vault used to store divine tablets used in worshiping gods at the Circular Mound Alter.
Echo Wall - This is a 3.
72 meter high 90 centimeter thick 65 meter long wall that surrounds the Imperial Vault of Heaven.
This wall is famous (infamous in my case) for transmitting sounds over long distances using the acoustical properties.
Like every tourist must, I planted my ear on the wall and tried to hear a friend on the other end.
Could not hear a thing.
My only disappointment in the Temple of Heaven.
Getting There - You can catch the subway on line 5, get of at Tian Tan Dong Men station and use the A exit.
You'll exit the station near the east gate of the Temple of Heaven.
If you have the time, walking there is much better.
The distance from the Forbidden City to the Temple of heaven is under 4 kilometers.
You can visit the Forbidden City for the first half of the day then retrace the Emperor's steps, enjoy an easy walk through Beijing and visit the Temple of Heaven in the afternoon.