Travel Reference
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ANCIENT OBSERVATORY
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( Gǔ Guānxiàngtái; Jianguomen Bridge, East 2nd Ring Rd; Erhuandong Lu, Jianguomen Qiao; adult ¥20;
9.30am-4.30pm Tue-Sun; Jianguomen) This unusual former observatory is mounted on the bat-
tlements of a watchtower lying along the line of the old Ming City Wall and originally
dates back to Kublai Khan's days, when it lay north of the present site. Kublai, like later
Ming and Qing emperors, relied heavily on astrologers to plan military endeavours. The
present observatory - the only surviving example of several constructed during the Jin,
Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties - was built between 1437 and 1446 to facilitate both as-
trological predictions and seafaring navigation.
|OBSERVATORY
At ground level is a pleasant courtyard flanked by halls housing displays (with limited
English captions). Also within the courtyard is an armillary sphere supposedly dating to
1439, supported by four dragons. At the rear is an attractive garden with grass, sundials
and a further armillary sphere.
Clamber the steps to the roof of the watchtower to admire a mind-boggling array of
Jesuit-designed astronomical instruments , embellished with sculptured bronze dragons
and other Chinese flourishes - a kind of East and West astronomical fusion. The Jesuits,
scholars as well as proselytisers, arrived in 1601 when Matteo Ricci and his associates
were permitted to work alongside Chinese scientists. Outdoing the resident calendar-set-
ters, they were given control of the observatory and became the Chinese court's official
advisers.
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