Beijing Ancient Observatory, Astronomical observatory in Dongcheng district, Beijing, China
The Ancient Beijing Observatory is an astronomical observatory in the Dongcheng district of Beijing, China, built on a tall brick platform with large bronze instruments displayed in the open air on top. The main building rises above the surrounding streets, and the instruments sit on the rooftop terrace where visitors can walk among them.
The observatory was built in 1442 under the Ming dynasty and served as the main center for astronomical observation in imperial China for several centuries. During the Qing dynasty, new bronze instruments were added, and in 1929 the site was turned into an astronomy museum.
Some of the bronze instruments on the rooftop platform were designed with input from European scientists working at the imperial court in the 17th and 18th centuries. You can still notice this exchange today by looking at the devices, which combine Chinese inscriptions with Western mechanical forms.
The site sits close to the Jianguomen metro station and is easy to reach on foot from there. A visit covering both the rooftop terrace with the instruments and the indoor museum section takes about an hour.
Several of the bronze instruments on the platform were taken away by German and French troops during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 and only returned to China decades later. The instruments visitors see today are the same ones that made that long detour through Europe before coming back to their original place.
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