Forbidden City Roof Joints

While most of the buildings in the forbidden city are made from wood and have a similar style its architecture is nevertheless rich in subtle variations and symbolism.

Forbidden city roof joints. From beijing s forbidden city to sichuan province s bao en temple it has helped many of. Imperial roof decoration of the highest status on the roof ridge of the hall of supreme harmony. This is an example corner bracket built from the temple of solitary joy in china. Forbidden city 100 by 赵广超著 2015 the palace press.

These joints are so effective they have helped the forbidden city in beijing withstand 200 earthquakes in 600 years. Watch how this structure built in the forbidden city style of architecture holds up to a simulated earthquake. It s crazy to see how wobbly it all looks but how it all gets locked into place by the immense weight of the roof. Yellow was a symbol of supreme power used only by the imperial family.

Consisting of a series of interlocking brackets this building innovation may be more than 2 500 years old. The forbidden city by frances wood 2005 british museum press division. The grand forbidden city the imperial axis by chiu kwong chiu 2008 joint publishing hong kong. Forbidden city chinese pinyin zijincheng or wade giles romanization tzu chin ch eng imperial palace complex at the heart of beijing peking china commissioned in 1406 by the yongle emperor of the ming dynasty it was first officially occupied by the court in 1420 it was so named because access to the area was barred to most of the subjects of the realm.

Origins of chinese traditional architecture by min fu hsu 1986 university of edinburgh. A brief look into the world of chinese bracket joinery with richard wiborg. The forbidden city is the largest medieval palace architecture in the world and was the main imperial palace of china s final two dynasties. Red was considered a symbol of good fortune and happiness.

Watch the full documentary on all 4. Like many chinese buildings of this period the forbidden city was mainly painted in red and yellow. 1 5 although common features of chinese architecture. Richard goes into the history and.

The ming 1368 1644 and qing 1644 1912 dynasties. And that wobbliness of course affords the flexibility required for the structure to withstand an earthquake without shattering. Ancient chinese wooden architecture is among the least studied of any of the world s great architectural traditions from the western point of view.