Stuviajes #4 Summer Palace (English)

stuvi (41)in #travel • 7 years ago (edited)

Summer Palace

The Summer Palace, is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing, China. It was an imperial garden in Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山; Wànshòu Shān) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres (1.1 sq mi), three-quarters of which is water.
The origins of the Summer Palace date back to the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in 1153, when the fourth ruler, Wanyan Liang (r. 1150–1161), moved the Jin capital from Huining Prefecture (in present-day Acheng District, Harbin, Heilongjiang) to Yanjing (present-day Beijing). He ordered the construction of a palace in the Fragrant Hills and Jade Spring Hill in the northwest of Beijing.
Around 1271, after the Yuan dynasty established its capital in Khanbaliq (present-day Beijing), the engineer Guo Shoujing initiated a waterworks project to direct the water from Shenshan Spring (神山泉) in Baifu Village (白浮村), Changping into the Western Lake (西湖), which would later become Kunming Lake. Guo's aim was to create a water reservoir that would ensure a stable water supply for the palace.

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Entrance to the park, Guarded as usual by tu Chinese guardian lions, or miscalled "Fuu dogs"

The summer palace was the first big park we (@kalejandra15 and @stuvi) visited in our trip to China,I find amazing the magnitude of the places build by the chinese people even being simple architecture it was build to long ago with no heavy machinery.

First we had to get there, we where sleeping close to the Xizhimen subway station so we get to the subway and then take a bus that left us close to the park

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Subway station in traditional chinese and English

The route we follow

We got our ticket so lets get in

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The first to see right after you get in to the park is the Suzhou Market Street that for me resemblance a little to Venice (in chinese)

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Four Great Regions is a complex of classical Tibetan Buddhist buildings and currently the largest in Beijing

While walking i could not help to remenber the Rurouni Kenshin series.

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From the top of the Longevity Hill you can admire the beauty of the Seventeen-Arch Bridge, the Kunming Lake and a Huge Pagoda.

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Going down of the longevity Hill you'll find the Bronze Pavilion, on this place we rest for a couple of minutes enjoying the view, quite and peace that it offers.

Baoyun Bronze Pavilion

Qing emperors and empresses used to pray and chant Scriptures in this pavilion built in 1755. The pavilion is one of the few buildings in the summer palace that escaped complete destruction by the Anglo-French Allied foreces in 1860.The Pavilion's bronze windows were taken overseas and in 1993 the Starr fundation purchased the bronze windows from a European private collector and send bat to China.

Tower of Buddhist Incense

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Marble Boat

Located in the northwest corner of Kunming Lake and close to the western foot of Longevity Hill at the Summer Palace, built in 1755 with a base made from huge stones. The base supported a wooden pavilion in traditional Chinese style imitating the sailing boats of Emperor Qianlongis, Now is a copy of the original wooden boat that was burn in 1860.

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Longevity Hill

This is the most magnificent area with the most constructions. It is symmetrically laid out in east and west many delicate buildings and graceful gardens with the south-facing Tower of Buddhist Incense as the central axis. Walking up to the hilltop, on which lots of important buildings are positioned, including Hall of Dispelling Clouds, Hall of Moral Glory, Baoyun Bronze Pavilion, Revolving Archives, Hall of the Sea of Wisdom, etc.

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