Xiannongtan

Xiannongtan is an outstanding example of the Royal sacrificial architecture in Ming and Qing Dynasties. The royal architectural complex in Ming Dynasty with basically complete layout and the physical witness of the feudal system have high historical and artistic value. According to historical records, xiannongtan, also known as "shanchuantan", was built in 1420, the 18th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty. It has a history of more than 580 years. It was an important place for the emperors of Ming and Qing Dynasties to worship mountains, rivers, Shennong and other gods. It was also the only royal forbidden court set up in the south of the city.

Founded in 1420, the xiannongtan in Beijing was built in the southwest of Zhengyangmen, corresponding to the temple of heaven in the East (originally called tianditan, which was called Tiantan in Jiajing of Ming Dynasty).

When the Xiannong temple was first built in Beijing, it followed the etiquette rules of Nanjing, the old capital of the early Ming Dynasty, and formed a temple complex with Xiannong, mountains and rivers, Taisui and other natural gods. In the 10th year of Jiajing reign (1513), Tianshen altar and dizhi altar were added to the south of inner altar wall, forming the present layout of Xiannong Altar. Xiannongtan covers an area of about 2000 mu and is surrounded by two walls. The outer wall is 1424 meters long from north to South and 700 meters wide from east to west. It is round in the north and looks like the south. The inner altar wall is 446 meters long from north to South and 306 meters wide from east to west.

There are five groups of buildings in xiannongtan: 1. Qingcheng palace; 2. Taisui Hall (including the worship hall and the silk burning stove in front of it); 3. Shenchu (including the slaughter Pavilion); 4. Shencang; 5. Jufu hall. In addition, there are four altars: the cultivation platform, the Xiannong Altar, the God altar and the Earth altar. These groups of buildings and platforms are basically located in the inner altar wall, only Qingcheng palace, Temple of gods, and dizhi altar are outside the inner altar wall and inside the outer altar wall. In addition, in front of the neitan guangeng terrace, there was one third of an acre of arable land, which was cultivated by the Emperor himself during the ceremony.

Xiannongtan

Xiannong was called emperor society and King society in ancient times, and it was called Xiannong in Han Dynasty. In spring, when the land was cultivated in the East, poetry was used to lead the peasants, and the altar was used to worship the peasants. In Wei Dynasty, Xiannong was one of the six gods of the state (Fengbo, Yushi, Lingxing, Xiannong, she and Ji were the six gods of the state). Before the Tang Dynasty, it was the imperial society, and the altar was called the Jitian altar. It was changed into the Xiannong Altar after the chuigong year (685-688 AD). At this point, sacrificing to the ancestors was officially defined as a ritual system in feudal society. At the beginning of spring every year, the emperor personally led the civil and military officials to perform rituals on the ancestors' altar.

Basic information

Location: 21 Dongjing Road, Xicheng District, Beijing. Built in the southwest of Zhengyangmen, it corresponds to the temple of heaven complex in the East.

Level of Cultural Relics: national key cultural relics protection units.

Construction time: from the 4th to the 18th year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty (1406 to 1420).

Main purpose: it is a place for the royal family of Ming and Qing Dynasties to offer sacrifices to the gods of the ancestors.

Old name: Shan Chuan Tan

related data

Floor area: 2000 mu

North South length of the outer altar: About 1424 meters; East West width of the outer altar: about 700 meters

Length of inner altar: About 446 meters

Width of inner altar from east to West: about 306m

Transportation route: take bus No.17, 20, 36, 54 and get off at xiannongtan.

Building composition

There are five groups of buildings in xiannongtan: 1. Qingcheng palace; 2. Taisui Hall (including the worship hall and the silk burning furnace in front of it); 3. Shenchu (including the slaughter Pavilion); 4. Shencang; 5. Jufu hall.

In addition, there are four altars: the cultivation platform, the Xiannong Altar, the God altar, and the dizhi altar. These groups of buildings and altars are basically located in the inner altar wall, only Qingcheng palace, God altar and Earth altar are located outside the inner altar wall and inside the outer altar wall. In addition, in front of the neitan guangeng terrace, there was one third of an acre of arable land, which was cultivated by the Emperor himself during the ceremony.

Main features

The architectural complex of xiannongtan, including the existing inner altar wall, has been built for more than 400 years from the beginning of Ming Dynasty to the overhaul of Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty. The overall layout is basically complete, and the architectural characteristics and artistic style basically retain the characteristics of Ming Dynasty.

Layout structure

According to the different requirements of sacrificial activities, these sacrificial buildings can be divided into palace buildings (dressing places before and after the emperor's sacrificial activities, places of celebration after the civil and military officials' sacrificial activities, temples for sacrificing Taisui, etc.) and functional buildings (God storehouse, God kitchen, God storehouse, etc.).

Due to the different requirements of use, the structure and skills of the building are different: the palace building is magnificent, the verandah or Xieshan roof is magnificent in appearance, the black or green glazed tiles are used, the internal carving is fine, the gilded doushuo is used for decoration, the lattice doors and windows are decorated with three cross six bowls of water chestnut, and the interior and exterior of the building are painted with golden dragon and seal. Although the rest of the buildings are hall structure, but the gray tile hard mountain and concise decoration form an obvious grade contrast with the former. In addition, the complete inner altar wall is preserved. The outer surface is made of white and rough bricks, which is basically the original system of Qianlong period. The inner layer has rammed earth wall of Ming Dynasty. The wall is 2.2 meters wide and 4.1 meters high. The top of the wall is equipped with rafters and roof tiles. There are three arched gates on each side of the inner altar wall. The south gate and Taisui hall are located on the same axis. The north gate is between shencangyuan and Jufu hall. The East and West gates basically correspond to the south of guangeng terrace and Xiannong Altar. The four doors are of brick and stone structure, with Xieshan peak, black glazed tiles and green trimming, and three stepped single warped polished bricks on the forehead between the brick pillars. The four doors are typical of the Ming Dynasty. The north and South doors have clear early dragon brocade fangxinxuanzi color paintings.

look south

Qingcheng palace is located in the northeast of the inner altar of xiannongtan, which is basically in the same direction as several groups of buildings in the inner altar. Qingcheng palace was Yamakawa tanzhai palace in Ming Dynasty, and it was renamed Qingcheng palace after the overhaul in Qianlong of Qing Dynasty. It was used as a place for the emperor to rest and reward hundreds of officials after farming.

Qingcheng palace faces south, 122.84 meters long from east to west and 110.14 meters wide from north to south, covering an area of 13529.6 square meters. From south to north, the central axis is the palace gate, the inner palace gate, the main hall and the Imperial Palace (this name is the inscription found on the quadrangular beast and a flying rafter in the repair in 2001, and it is temporarily used because the name of the hall is not recorded). There are East and west auxiliary halls on the East and west sides of the main hall and imperial palace, and there is an arch gate on the East and west sides of the courtyard wall between the inner palace gate and the main hall.

The overall layout of Qingcheng palace is courtyard in courtyard, with two large courtyards formed by the inner and outer palace gates; the buildings are concentrated on the same high platform in the north of the axis, with walls around it to form a closed courtyard; the left and right sides of the Imperial Palace are connected with the auxiliary hall by walls to form a small courtyard; the two sides of the high platform are each a courtyard, and the rear wall is the courtyard wall of Qingcheng palace, with wall doors set on the courtyard wall, while the south wall of the courtyard is connected with the courtyard wall A wall door is opened at the corresponding position.

Wall formation

All buildings and walls in the courtyard are green glazed tiles. The structure and shape of the inner and outer palaces are basically the same. Each building area is 120.7 square meters, with five rooms of 16.54 meters wide and one room of 7.3 meters deep. The roof is of single eaves and mountain style, with green glazed tile trimming, three steps of single lifting and grinding bricks, six saving in the Ming Dynasty, four saving in the second, one saving in the slightly, and six saving in the mountain. There are three arched doors in the Ming Dynasty, and nine door studs are installed in the plate doors. There are white marble railings on the front and back of the building, and carved dragon stone slabs are laid in the middle of the front and back of each door.

The building area of the main hall is about 414.53 square meters. The platform with a front area of 246.93 square meters is equipped with white marble railings around the platform. On the front of the platform, there is a nine step terrace. There are sundials and time tablets on both sides of the terrace. There are Dragon carving stone slabs in the middle of the terrace and seven steps on each side. The main hall is 27.2 meters wide and 15.24 meters deep. In the hall, two gold pillars are subtracted from the south of Mingjian. The roof is single eaves and veranda style. There are tuishan and green glazed tiles. The eaves and capitals are cut down. Doushuo is a gold-plated doushuo with five steps and single cocks. In the Ming Dynasty, there were six bunches of doushuo, four bunches of doushuo, 16 bunches of doushuo (including four bunches of jiaotoushuo) and 64 bunches of doushuo. It is true to make up the room, and to pick gold. The rear end of the square is lifted under the square between the center purlin and the lower gold purlin, and the upper end of the square overhangs the eaves rafters. The two ends of the square pass through the hump and are laid on the Baotou beam or the six frame beam. Under the inner eaves, between the gold plate and the gold Fang, there is a bucket of three liter shelf. There is smallpox in the hall. The front eaves of the hall have five open lattice doors, and the back eaves have a door in the Ming room, leading to the imperial palace.

Inner altar building

Taisui hall is located in the southwest of the north gate of Xiannong Altar. It is a place for worshiping Taisui and other natural gods in spring, summer, autumn and winter. It is adjacent to shencang in the East, Shenchu in the west, and Jufu hall in the south. It is located in the center of the inner altar of xiannongtan, with the largest building volume.

Taisui hall group building covers an area of about 9076 square meters, with four single buildings. The central axis from south to north is Baidian and Taisui hall. There are 11 wing rooms on the East and west sides respectively. The building rooms are connected by walls. There are four wall gates on both sides of Baidian and on the north side of East and west walls.

The building area of Baidian is about 860 square meters. Its width is 50.96m for seven rooms and its depth is 16.88m for three rooms (8 rafters and 9 purlins). The front platform is 332.5 square meters, with three six steps on the front. Six steps are set at the back eaves between Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. In the northern part of the hall, four gold pillars are subtracted, and its wood structure is similar to that of "eight rafters and three pillars for six rafters" in the Song Dynasty's "construction method".

It's made from the top. Roof single eaves Xieshan style, black glazed tile, green glazed tile trimming. The eaves and capitals are cut down. Dou Shuo

Chinese PinYin : Xian Nong Tan