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Ancient Observatory
 The Ancient Observatory is situated at the south side
of Jianguomen. It is one of the famous historic sites of astronomy and
"An Exhibition Hall of Beijing Ancient Astronomical Instruments of
Beijing Planetarium".
This ancient observatory was built by the astronomers
Wang Xun and Guo Shoujing. Its original name was the Administration of
Heavenly Observatory. It was changed into Constellation Observatory in
the 7th year (1442) of Emperor Zhentong of the Ming dynasty and known
simply as Observatory in the Qing dynasty. It has a history of more
than seven hundred years since then.
The Observatory is an elevated brick-built terrace
structure and on it are the huge astronomical instruments made of
bronze on display. Under it are a cluster of buildings such as Ziwei
Hall, Sundial Shadow Hall and other auxiliary structures. Since it
served as the center for astronomical observation in the Ming and Qing
dynasties it is also known as the Observatory of the Ming and Qing
Dynasties.
The astronomical instruments of the Ming dynasty such
as celestial globe, plane sundial, rotary stardial and others have
been transfered to the Nanjing Purple Observatory and the Nanjing
Museum.
 The astronomical instruments preserved here such as the
anti-seismic instrument, quadrant instrument, celestrial instrument,
ecliptic theodolite, altazimuth, equatorial theodolite telescope etc.
were made at the beginning of the Qing dynasty. |
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