The Temple of Heaven is a world-level artistic treasure, its artistic theme sings the praise of the Supreme "heaven", all artistic techniques aim to play up the solemnity and nobility of the heaven, gaining extremely outstanding achievement.

The Temple of Heaven is located on the east side of the front gate in the south city of Beijing. It is the place where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties worshipped and was built in the 18th year (1420) of the reign of Ming Emperor ChengZu. The altar, in a plane round shape, called Huanqiu Hill, was rebuilt in the 17th year (1752) of Qing Emperor Gaozong. Qiniandian (Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests) was rebuilt in the 16th year (1890) of Emperor Dezong.

Frame of the Temple of Heaven (south to north)

The Temple of Heaven is very large in area, stretching 1,700 meters from east to west and 1,600 meters from north to south, with two circles of enclosing walls. The southern side had square corner and the north side round ones, symbolizing the place of a round heaven. Walking eastward from the front (west) gate, within the inner wall there is a zhaigong (fasting-palace) in the south for the emperor to fast and bathe before worshipping. Further east is a north-south vertical axis formed by the main buildings. Huanqiu is in the south with a three-layered stone terrace. Within the Beiyuan courtyard of Huanqiu is a round hall, or the imperial vault where the spirit tablet of the heavenly god is placed. Going further north, one can reach the Qiniandian Hall via Danbiqiao Bridge.

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