The Temple of Heaven is one of the premier examples of Chinese traditional architecture. The exquisite wooden structure is one of a kind, and the wide circular layout of the grounds, which include dozens of unique stone carved images along stairways, large swaths of green space, and on less busy weekdays an atmosphere of sacredness.

Almost all of the Beijing WHS are extremely busy during weekends (or holidays), and if you have to jostle for space your visit might not be pleasant! A key stop for any visit to Beijing, the Temple of Heaven is a WHS that preserves some of the historic fabric of Beijing that over the past century had diminished, but to some degree restored over the past few decades.

The Temple of Heaven was inscribed in 1998 (China's 20 WHS). As a key historic component of the Central Axis of Beijing, the Temple of Heaven is now inscribed twice. Rebuilt and re-organized over the centuries of the Qing Dynasty, The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests burned down and was rebuilt in the 1890's. Moreover, like most Confucian, religious and imperial cultural sites in China, the Temple of Heaven suffered damage during the Cultural Revolution.

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