太和殿屋頂 Roof Detail, Hall of Supreme Harmony / Forbidden City, Beijing, China / SML.20140430.6D.31385.P1

A fundamental achievement of Chinese wooden architecture is the load-bearing timber frame, a network of interlocking wooden supports forming the skeleton of the building. Not a single nail is used during construction.

 

Unlike western architecture, in ancient Chinese wooden architecture, the wall only defined an enclosure, and did not form a load-bearing element. Buildings in China have been supported by wooden frames for as long as seven millennia.

 

Pictured is a detail of the roof of the Hall of Supreme Harmony (太和殿), one of the largest wooden structures within China. Built in 1406, it is also one of the most well kept.

 

Photographed inside the Forbidden City in Beijing with the Canon EOS 6D + Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L USM

 

# More Information

+ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Chinese_wooden_architecture

+ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_of_Supreme_Harmony

 

太和殿屋頂 Roof Detail, Hall of Supreme Harmony / Forbidden City, Beijing, China / SML.20140430.6D.31385.P1

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