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mologically the most powerful number, symbolizing both heaven and emperor. The centre of
the altar's bare, roofless top tier, where the Throne of Heaven was placed during ceremon-
ies, was considered to be the middle of the Middle Kingdom - the very centre of the earth.
Various acoustic properties are claimed for the altar; from this point, it is said, all sounds are
channelled straight upwards to heaven. To the east of the nearby fountain, which was recon-
structed after fire damage in 1740, are the ruins of a group of buildings used for the prepara-
tion of sacrifices.
Museum of Natural History
nh.org.cn
• Qianmen subway (line 2); the museum is a 10min walk from the southern end of Qianmen Dajie
Just north of Tiantan Park's west gate, the
Museum of Natural History
is highly popular
with local and foreign kids alike - they never fail to be impressed by the dinosaur skeletons,
set amid an array of local fossils. On the upper levels of the building, China's prodigious
wealth of animal life is portrayed in stuffed form, while sharks, manta rays and the like zip
above your head in the basement
aquarium
.
Museum of Ancient Architecture
古代建筑博物馆
, gǔdài jiànzhù bówùguǎn • South of Nanwei Lu (look for the red arch) • Tues-Sun 9am-5pm
•
￥
15 • 010 63172150,
bjgjg.com
• Qianmen subway (line 2), then taxi; just off bus routes #15 and #803;
or a 15min walk from the Museum of Natural History
One of Beijing's most underrated attractions, the
Museum of Ancient Architecture
is
housed in the former Xiannong Temple. The twin of the nearby Temple of Heaven, it was
dedicated to the god of earth, and every year the emperor ritually ploughed a furrow to ensure
a good harvest. The buildings and the flat altar are refined, though not spectacular. The
Hall
ofWorship
holds oddments such as the gold-plated plough used by the emperor, as well as a
display explaining the building's history.
More diverting is the main
Hall of Jupiter
, with its beautifully ornate ceiling and an en-
lightening collection of architectural exhibits showing how China's traditional buildings were
put together. There are wooden models, many with cutaways, of famous and distinctive
buildings, including Yingxian pagoda (west of Beijing in Shanxi province), and a stilt house
of Yunnan province's Dong people. Also on hand are samples of
dougongs
, interlocking,
stacked brackets, as complex as puzzle boxes. The giant floor model of how Beijing looked
in 1949 - before the communists demolished most of it - is informative, revealing how all
the surviving imperial remnants are fragments of a grand design, with a precise north-south
imperial axis and sites of symbolic significance at each of the cardinal points. For those who
