[Photos]
[photos] Forbidden City
The south entrance, facing Tiananmen Square
The crowd to pass within. The vast majority of tourists visiting were Chinese.
Looking back at the entrance from within.
The doors within the gateway passages are typically decorated with large brass studs. People touch these for luck.
Monks visiting the Forbidden City.
Details of roof tiles. These are modern copies of older work, in place as part of restoration.
The painting of the undersides of the roofs. Typical for porticoes, porches, entrances and passageways. Note difference between restored and unrestored.
Another detail. Note the characters on the right are Manchu rather than Mandarin.
An unrestored sign in Mandarin and Manchu. This is from the Dowager Empress’ compound. The Imperial Telephone Exchange was in the same compound.
Brass dogs on the side of one of the water vats. This is the height of 15th century firefighting technology. These vats are about eight feet in diameter and six feet deep, and line many of the courtyards as reservoirs for fire control use.
Art and architectural detail around the Forbidden City.
A vista towards the stupa over by Beihai. Note the dragons on the roof in the middle distance.
A courtyard near the northern end of the Forbidden City.
A single 30-ton slab carved in imperial motifs.
The bureau of natural sciences.
Dad.
The view out the north gate, toward Coal Hill.
As usual, more at the Flickr set.
© 2009, Joseph E. Lake Jr.; some photos © 2009, B. Lake
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
Posted: 5:16 pm Wed May 06 2009 |
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Bridget Coila
May 7th, 2009 at 5:46 amJust a note- the vista to the stupa is looking out at Beihai, not Summer Palace. Beihai is the park along the lake just north west of the Forbidden City. (SP is way further north)
I really love that temple at Beihai, actually- it is on an island and there is a series of caves dug into the rock under it that have buddha statues in little nooks.
Nice Forbidden City shots, by the way! The architectural details there are marvelous- I love exploring the FC compound.
B
Jay
May 7th, 2009 at 5:52 amFixed! Thank you. And yes, that place is amazing.