The Pinery: Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven is where the Emperor would make sacrifices and pray to heaven and his ancestors at the winter solstice. He would pray for a good harvest. Like all the places we saw on our visit, the Temple of Heaven was off limits to the common people during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Here we are posing in front of the entrance.

The raised walkway made of marble and stone runs exactly down the center of the complex.

This altar was made of marble slabs. Nine seems to be the magic number for the Ming and Qing Dynasties, so there were nine steps between each level and nine circular rows of stone on each level. Most of the time, there were nine of everything.

We are standing at the center of the altar on the top level. It represents the center of the world and is where the Emperor carried out his sacrifices.

View from the top of the round altar looking farther into the Temple of Heaven.

If you were observant, you could see that the number nine was seen everywhere. If you look closely at the red doors, each door has nine rows of gold knobs, and each row has nine knobs also.

This is the Imperial Vault of Heaven.

The detail is amazing!

A picture of the inside of the vault. This vault once held the wooden spirit tablets that were used in the ceremonies that took place on the nearby Round Altar.

How cool is this??

Posing with Percy and his ever famous tourist peace sign :) In Guam, all the Japanese tourists hold up a peace sign when they pose. I guess Percy has picked up on it.