Pavillion at the Center of the Maze in Yuanmingyuan Park 圆明园
The ruins of Yuanmingyuan Park was a sobering reminder of the treasure that was lost when this place was burned down and inevitably looted. It is not very often that I would be able to see these kinds of architectural style here. There were mixed reactions on restoring the ruins to its former splendor. In the end, the ruins were to remain as they are right now. Well, most of them that is. There was a place called the Huanghua Formation 黄花阵 which was distinctly European in style and curiously, it wasn’t in a ruined state.
Maze in the Yuanmingyuan Park 圆明园
The Huanghua Formation features a European style maze with a pavillion at the center. This was something I normally see in European settings where mazes were carved out of hedges. Some really elaborate ones are huge and one could really get lost there. The maze here in the park was a much small version and you could probably figure it out in a few minutes. The hedges here are made of chest high cement walls and go around the park. The maze and pavillion at the center were restored fairly recently, I assumed that great care has been taken to make it a faithful reproduction of the original.
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