The compound for the Temple of Heaven is massive. We rented a informational player and it said it was 10 times the size Tienanmen Square. It has lots of big gates, very old cypress tress (pictured one was supposed to be 500 years old!)
There were smaller Temples that served different purposes, but were just as ornate. The line on the sidewalk here was for God. Not even the emperor was allowed to step on it as he walked to the main temple.
The top picture was the place of sacrifice. It was basically a set of rings and at the top would have been the altar--no longer there. There was lots of greenery and people doing very interesting things from playing kicking games, to practicing their skills with a whip, to doing calligraphy with water to dancing to 50's music to fan dances with traditional music. The Temple of Heaven had it all. I wish we could have had a whole day for each of these places. There is so much to see it's worth it!
No comments:
Post a Comment