Beijing’s Temple of Heaven is widely considered to be the pinnacle of traditional Chinese architecture.
Covering an area three times bigger than the Forbidden City, the 92-building site is the world’s largest existing building complex for offering sacrifice to heaven, according to UNESCO. The elaborately decorated structures here incorporate circles and squares, adhering to Chinese cosmology, which traditionally held that the Earth is square, while heaven is round. The three-tiered, 125-foot-tall Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is the oldest building in the compound — and the most impressive. It was built in 1420 during the Ming Dynasty, and used as the site where emperors conducted sacrificial ceremonies to garner the favor of the gods. Constructed entirely without nails, it’s a marvel of glazed tiles and 28 ornately decorated columns that support its grand conical roof.
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