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Circular Mound Altar of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven has two altars, namely, the Circular Mound Alter of Heaven and the Altar of Prayer for Harvest. The walls make two rectangles, one within the other.
The outer wall can be penetrated only from the west, through the Circular Mound Altar Gate and Altar of Prayer Gate. Four gates are opened in the inner wall in four directions. Within the compound there are altars and meditation hall. The unique features of the Temple of Heaven, apart from the Circular Mound Altar and the Altar of Prayer, are the Meditation Hall and Imperial Music Studio.
The Meditation Hall is on the south within the west gate. This is where the emperor meditated before he proceeded to worship the Heaven and pray for harvest. A simpler version of the palace in the Forbidden City, the Mediation Hall is surrounded with inner and outer walls, with watch boxes at the four corners and a bell tower at the northeast. The bell rang every time the emperor came and left.
What the Temple of Heaven refers to, actually, is the Circular Mound Altar alone and doesn¡¯t include the Hall of Prayer for Harvest, which served, as its name suggests, the rituals for good year. But people gradually used the Temple of Heaven, the name for the Circular Mound Altar, as the general term for the whole complex. The designs bear features of typical Chinese architecture. The northern part within the walls is semicircular and the southern part square, representing the ancient cosmology in which the heaven was considered round and the earth, flat.
The notion of round heaven can be seen everywhere at the Temple of Heaven. The ground plans of major buildings are all circular in shape, the altar, the roof of the hall, etc. One is reminded of the circle of life and the boundless vitality.
You strongly feel the sovereignty of Heaven, and the divine nature of monarchy, which, as the Temple of Heaven architecture gives you such impression, derived its justification from on high. An asserted derivative relation between the divine power and the secular power ensured the allegiance of the subjects to the rulers.
The architecture also bears the influence of ancient philosophy and the aristocratic hierarchy.
The Hall of Prayer for Harvest, the greatest building in both magnitude and height, is the heart of the complex. Dedicated to Heaven, the hall is surmounted by a
Triple-tiered roof, made of blue-glazed tiles, representing the Heaven. The roof is even one tier higher than the Taihedian, the central palace in the Forbidden City.
When the Hall of Prayer was first built, the tiles of its roof were in different colors. The top tier was blue, representing the Heaven; the middle tier was yellow, representing the emperor, son of Heaven; the lowest tier was green, representing the people and all other things under the sovereignty of Heaven and the emperor.
The design of the Hall of Prayer imitates the style of ancient royal palace, supported by four main dragon pillars, representing the four seasons. The 12 interior posts represent the 12 months and the outer ring, composed of 12 pillars, represent the 12 two-hour periods of a day. The 24 pillars together represent the 24 solar terms of a year which served as the guideline for agriculture. The ancient Chinese attached great importance to agriculture.
Making full use of the spacious interior of the Hall of Prayer, architects decorated the pillars with dragon-alga patterns.
Pillars decorated with dragon-alga patterns
The Hall of Prayer for Harvest is so great a masterpiece of Chinese architecture that an Italian visitor marveled at its ¡°perfect structure and brilliant colors that are fascinating.¡±
Celestial Heart Stone
Numerologists will be interested in certain patterns revealed in the temple¡¯s architecture. The flagstones on the upper terrace are arranged in concentric circles in multiples of nine. Nine was considered the number of yang force, which concentrated where the altar is set. There are nine stairs. The first circle has nine stones, the second 18, and so on to a total of 81 in the ninth circle.
Seen from the Zhaoheng Gate in the south, people on the altar stand so high that they seem to be walking in heaven.
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