East Annex Hall 东配殿

The Danbi Bridge slowly descends the circular mound that the Temple of Heaven rests on and it leads to another cluster of Ming style buildings. Similar to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, there is another circular hall here surrounded by other halls. It is as if it mirrors that large hall just north of this structure.

Inside the East Annex Hall 东配殿

One of these is the East Annex Hall, you can probably guess from the name of the hall what is was and how it came about. This hall houses stone tablets dedicated to celestial beings which were worshipped at the time such as the sun, the polar stars and the five innermost planets excluding Earth. It was interesting to find out about this an how these celestial bodies were already known to them. The ceiling is likewise designed with the now familiar Ming style design although this one doesn’t seem to be restored that much.

[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/TempleofHeaven.kmz} zoom=19]