TEMPLE OF HEAVEN
The Temple of Heaven is an
imperial complex of religious buildings situated in the southeastern part
of central Beijing. The complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming
and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest.
It has been regarded as a Taoist temple, although Chinese heaven worship,
especially by the reigning monarch of the day, predates Taoism.
Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests,
the largest building
The temple was occupied by the Anglo-French
Alliance during the Second Opium War. In 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion,
the Eight Nation Alliance occupied the temple complex and turned it into
the force's temporary command in Beijing, which lasted for one year. The
occupation desecrated the temple and resulted in serious damage to the
building complex and the garden. Robberies of temple artifacts by the Alliance
were also reported.[
In 1918 the temple was turned
into a park and for the first time open to the public. The Temple of Heaven
was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998 and was described
as "a masterpiece of architecture and landscape design which simply and
graphically illustrates a cosmogony of great importance for the evolution
of one of the world’s great civilizations..." as the "symbolic layout and
design of the Temple of Heaven had a profound influence on architecture
and planning in the Far East over many centuries."
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