It was the place where every emperor of Ming and Qing Dynasty (1386~1911A.D.) offer sacrifices to Heaven and a place for emperors to worship. The Temple of Heaven was built in 1420, the same year as the Forbidden City, covering an area of 2,700,000 square meters and has two altars, an altar on the inside and one on the outside.
The north wall of the Temple of Heaven exists in a circular shape while the other three walls are in square shape, together it represents "harmony of Heaven and Earth". The inner altar is the main building and the Circular Altar and Imperial Vault of Heaven stand on the north of the inner altar, while The Hall of Prayer and Huang Gan Hall facing south. There is a 360 meters long corridor connecting the two together. The Hall of Prayer is a 38 meters high, colorful, splendid, round hall, the eaves of which were built with blue color glazed tiles. Since the sky is blue, the color blue was used to resemble heaven. Another important structure of The Temple of Heaven is The Circular Altar, which is a three levels stone altar. Each level has white marble railing. This Altar presents the design of geometric figure showing the ingenious architectural designs. The number of bricks used, slats on the altar, the steps and the fences are all "nine" or "multiply of nine", symbolizing "Nine Divisions of Heaven", which is the center of heaven where God lives.
As famous as the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven is a "must" to visit for every tourist coming to Beijing.
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