Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The
Drum & Bell Square
, which lies between the two towers, is a great
people-watching space, especially during the evening when locals congregate
for formation dancing. Both towers are lit up beautifully come evening.
PHIL WEYMOUTH/GETTY IMAGES ©
Don't Miss
Lama Temple
If you only have time for one temple (the Temple of Heaven isn't really a temple)
make it this one, where riveting roofs, fabulous frescoes, magnificent decorative
arches, tapestries, eye-popping carpentry, Tibetan prayer wheels, tantric statues
and a superb pair of Chinese lions mingle with dense clouds of incense.
The most renowned Tibetan Buddhist temple outside the historic lands of Tibet,
the Lama Temple was converted to a lamasery in 1744 after serving as the former
residence of Emperor Yong Zheng.
Resplendent within the
Hall of the Wheel of the Law
(Falun Dian), the fourth hall
you reach from the entrance, is a substantial bronze statue of a benign and smiling
