Wenlan Pavilion, Imperial library in Hangzhou, China
The Wenlan Pavilion is a two-story library building set in the middle of a pond, connected by a flower-lined corridor that passes through a rocky cave. The structure showcases traditional Chinese garden architecture with ornamental gateways and is completely surrounded by water.
Built in 1782 during Emperor Qianlong's reign, the pavilion was destroyed in 1861 during the Taiping Rebellion. It underwent restoration in 1880, allowing it to resume its role as a repository of knowledge.
The pavilion housed one of seven imperial libraries containing the Siku Quanshu, a comprehensive collection representing the breadth of Chinese literature and scholarship. Today, visitors can observe how this collection reflected the intellectual values of the Qing era.
The site sits on Gushan Road near West Lake and is easily reached by local pathways. Exhibition halls display artifacts from Qing Dynasty scholars and offer insights into the collection's history.
The pavilion is the only surviving southern library collection from the Qing Dynasty and showcases traditional Chinese garden design. Its placement on an island in the water was deliberate, meant to set apart this house of learning as a special refuge for scholarship.
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