Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial Altar in Beijing (1998)

Lying in the southernmost part of Beijing, it was first built in the eighteenth year in the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty (1420), and was rebuilt and renovated in the Qing Dynasty, covering a land of about 2.7 million square meters. Among its main buildings are Qinian (Prayer for Good Harvest) Hall, Huan Qiu (Circular Mound Altar) and Huang Qiong Yu (Imperial Vault of Heaven), being the place for the emperors of the two Dynasties of Ming and Qing to offer sacrifice to heaven and pray for good harvest. It has two encircling walls, to form the internal and external altars, and the altar walls are round in the north and square in the south, to symbolize the round heaven and square earth. In front of the Huang Qiong Yu are the Echoing Wall and Three-sound Stone. The Temple is the joint name of the two altars of Huan Qiu and Qi Gu, they are the largest ancient sacrifice-offering building complex existing now in our country. In 1998 it was inscribed in the “World Cultural Heritage List”.