The Forbidden City, honing in
The palace buildings basking in the soft glow of the setting sun.
The palace buildings basking in the soft glow of the setting sun.
Many architectural details, such as the carved figures at the corners of the eaves, had significance. For example, you could tell a building's rank by how many figures it had and what the figures were (a dragon in front of many figures indicated a high rank). As another example, rows and rows of dragon heads, with holes in their mouths, stuck out of walls for drainage purposes. Much more decorative than gutters and downspouts!
Each square brick in the floor took 120 days to make. Millions of bricks. Fathom that in the 1400s.
Look at this magnificent paint! Despite the increased crowds and increased hotel prices, I'm glad we visited China after the Olympics. Seeing the palace without seeing how it is supposed to look wouldn't have been the same.
2 comments:
great pictures!!
maria, thanks for sharing about your china adventure! can't wait to hear more about it from you!
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