Beijing's Summer Palace
Seen whilst aboard a boat on Kunming Lake. Scanned from a negative.
The Summer Palace or Yiheyuan, literally Garden of Nurtured Harmony, is a palace in Beijing, China. It is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (60m high) and the Kunming Lake in the foreground. It covers an expanse of 2.9 km², 75% of which is water. In the 70,000m² of building space, there are a variety of palaces, gardens, and other classical-style architectural structures.
The Summer Palace started out life as the Garden of Clear Ripples in 1750. Artisans reproduced the garden architecture styles of various palaces in China. Kunming Lake was created by extending an existing body of water to imitate the West Lake in Hangzhou. The palace complex suffered two major attacks - during the Anglo-French allied invasion of 1860 (with the Old Summer Palace also ransacked at the same time), and during the Boxer Rebellion, in an attack by the eight Allied powers in 1900. The garden survived and was rebuilt in 1886 and 1902.
In 1888, it was given the current name, Yihe Yuan. It served as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi, who diverted 30 million taels of silver, said to be originally designated for the Chinese navy (Beiyang Fleet), into the reconstruction and enlargement of the Summer Palace.
The Summer Palace was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1998, being declared "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
Beijing's Summer Palace
Seen whilst aboard a boat on Kunming Lake. Scanned from a negative.
The Summer Palace or Yiheyuan, literally Garden of Nurtured Harmony, is a palace in Beijing, China. It is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (60m high) and the Kunming Lake in the foreground. It covers an expanse of 2.9 km², 75% of which is water. In the 70,000m² of building space, there are a variety of palaces, gardens, and other classical-style architectural structures.
The Summer Palace started out life as the Garden of Clear Ripples in 1750. Artisans reproduced the garden architecture styles of various palaces in China. Kunming Lake was created by extending an existing body of water to imitate the West Lake in Hangzhou. The palace complex suffered two major attacks - during the Anglo-French allied invasion of 1860 (with the Old Summer Palace also ransacked at the same time), and during the Boxer Rebellion, in an attack by the eight Allied powers in 1900. The garden survived and was rebuilt in 1886 and 1902.
In 1888, it was given the current name, Yihe Yuan. It served as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi, who diverted 30 million taels of silver, said to be originally designated for the Chinese navy (Beiyang Fleet), into the reconstruction and enlargement of the Summer Palace.
The Summer Palace was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1998, being declared "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".