Our Trip to Beijing Municipality, China

6. Marble Steps at the Temple of Heaven

Here we are looking up the marble steps to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest in the Temple of Heaven. The roof is topped with a gilded knob. Inside four pillars, each a single tree trunk, one for each point of the compass, support the vault of the roof, decorated with a central motif of a dragon within a circle of clouds. This masterpiece was originally built in the fifteenth century, during the reign of Yong Li, was burnt to the ground in 1889, for which thirty-two officials and guardians lost their heads. The tree trunks used to rebuild the hall came from Oregon in the United States.