Temple of Heaven
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How it came to be
The Temple of Heaven was built in Beijing by the Ming emperor Yongle together with the Forbidden City and completed in 1420. Here the emperor made sacrifices to Heaven and prayed for good harvests. It was first called the Altar of Heaven and Earth and was renamed the Temple of Heaven under the Jiajing Emperor in 1534.
Qing emperors including Qianlong rebuilt it, and by 1749 the present layout was largely in place. UNESCO counts 92 old buildings with 600 rooms, the largest surviving complex for sacrifice to Heaven. The central Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests burned after a lightning strike in 1889 and was rebuilt a few years later.
After the fall of the Qing, Yuan Shikai held a Ming-style sacrifice here in 1914 as part of his bid to become emperor. The temple opened to the public as a park for the first time in 1918 and was inscribed in 1998.
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