Built in 1530, the Altar of Earth is located in the northern part of Beijing, a little way off Andingmenwai Street. Extending over an area of 37 hectares, it was surrounded by a double square enclosure. The outer enclosure no longer stands but its west gate remains.For more than four centuries, t...

One often connects all architecture of China to Buddhism but there are traces of Islam to be found here too. The Niujie Mosque is a great example of Islamic religion taking shape influenced by Chinese architecture. The Mosque gets its name from the street on which it is built. The Niujie Street w...

Now the Beijing Capital Museum, the Beijing Temple of Confucius was originally built in 1302 as a place to pay homage to - you guessed it - Confucius. The massive complex (22,000m square) is second only in size and importance in Confucius worship to the Temple of Confucius in Qufu in Shandong Pro...

Situated on the east side of Yonghegong Street in the northeastern corner of the city, the Yonghe Lamasery is the largest and best-known lamasery in Beijing. The principal components are three exquisite memorial archways and five major halls, all of which stand on a north-south axis. The total ar...

The Temple of Heaven was constructed between 1406 and 1420 during the reign of Ming Emperor YongLe (1403-1424), who also oversaw the creation of the Forbidden City during the same period. It is much bigger than the Forbidden City and smaller than the Summer Palace with an area of about 2,700,000 ...