Forbidden City

Large Carved Stone - 7

This single stone is 16.75 meters long, 3.07 meters wide and 1.7 meters thick. It weighs more than 200 tons. Quarried from the Fang Shan mountains west of Beijing, it was heaved to the Forbidden City using logs in summer and by pouring water along the way in winter till it froze and sliding the huge block along the ice. It was put in place at the time the three main Halls were built around 1418. On the ascents and descents to the raised marble platforms there are large stone carvings forming ramps flanked by stairs. The emperor would be carried in his sedan over the stone carving and was the only person allowed to pass over it.