|
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.
|
|
