Description of the attraction
The Summer Imperial Palace is an amazingly spacious park ensemble, consisting of residential buildings, temples and pavilions stretching along the shores of an artificial lake. The palace is located 20 km from the capital Beijing.
This palace is recognized as an excellent example of the harmonious combination of imagination and functionality. Pavilions, ceremonial halls, paths and bridges provide a kind of framing for the picturesque landscape, and many temples and altars offer peace.
A vast territory with a total area of Yiheyuan Park - about 290 hectares - is set aside for the Summer Palace. All buildings of the palace complex, considered to be the main ones, are concentrated in the northern part of the park. Slightly south of Longevity Mountain is Kunming Lake.
The park can be conditionally divided into two parts: park and palace. After passing through the main gate of the park, you will find yourself in the Renshoudian Pavilion, where the residence of Empress Cix and her son Guangxu was once located. On the east side there is the Deheyuan theater complex, and on the west side there is a gallery, the length of which is 728 m.
In general, there are more than 3000 buildings in the park. Each of the architectural groups has its own characteristics.
Yiheyuan includes three landscape areas: a natural lake, a hill, and palace ensembles. At the same time, the Yuquanshan mountains come in for Yiheyuan as a distant plan. Here, the natural landscape is organically combined with an artificially created garden and park ensemble, as a result of which Yiheyuan acts as a wonderful example of local garden and park art.
The walking area of the palace park, which is also its special attraction, consists of Mount Wanshou, Lake Kunming, modeled after the lake in Hangzhou - Xihu, as well as Mount Houshan and Lake Houhu.
One of the most important structures of the palace ensemble is the Fosiange Temple, which rises in the center of Wanshou Mountain. Here, on the Sealy dam, there are 6 bridges. The most amazing of them is the Jade Bridge.
The Dundi dam on the east side is connected to the dam in the west. In its central part there is a bridge of 17 arches, the stone pillars of the bridge are decorated with 564 lions.
Yiheyuan Park acts as a residence and at the same time a garden for Chinese emperors. Lakes, on the other hand, once played an important role in the water supply system of the city of Beijing, since they were used for water communication between the capital and its environs.
