Things to see and do Route de la soie

Summer as well as winter, it is nice to spend the day in the beautiful surroundings of Summer Palace and its immense park. The latter is on a surface of about 280 hectares, delimited by a wall wall with few doors; with a huge lake, Kunming Lake, which covers three quarters of the surface and, in the north, a hill called "the hill of Longevity", on the flanks of which palaces and temples stretch up to the top.

History

Successively called "Garden of Golden Waters" under the Jin during the construction of the original palace, then "Garden of Wonderful Hills" while Ming had added the Temple of the Perfect Tranquility, other pavilions and enlarged the lake, it was to Emperor Qian Long (1711-1799) of the Qing the park owes its most important transformations. He was inspired by Hangzhou's architecture, which his mother emulated, Nihulu, had loved, and that is why Qian Long offered him as a gift for his sixtieth birthday the new ensemble renamed «the hill of the Millennial Longevity», standing in the «garden of clear Waves».

At the time, the court took refuge in its secondary residences outside the capital, from the arrival of the summer and its torrid chalks until 1860, where many palaces were destroyed, including the palace of summer. It was to Empress Cixi (1835-1908), the untreatable, but who took the whole thing, that it was a luxury restoration (it diverted money to bail out the imperial navy coffers) and its new name "garden where l l l… the concord is grown. The palace was once again destroyed in 1900 at the time of the Boxer revolt, and Cixi, who was very attached to it, rested it again.

Visit

In order to enter the courtyard, we first come under a large pai, a wooden porch sculpted and painted. In the middle of this double courtyard, you will see a beautiful bronze unicorn, and at the bottom is the room of Benveillance and Longevity, before which you will note four burning bronze incenses representing animals. It is said that the Empress gave its hearings in this Chamber.

Then, by heading to the lake, we arrive at the palace of the jade waves, poetic name for what was for ten years the prison in which Empress Cixi returned the emperor Guangxu trapped in the most complete isolation (he couldn't even see his wife or his concubines) after the failure.' a hundred days of reforms'. You can still see what was the furniture of Guangxu's bedroom.

We then headed to the Garden of Virtue and Harmony, where Cixi had offered, on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday, a superb theater, with all the modern mechanisms of the time - traps, water games effects… His true passion for theater sometimes pushed her on the boards during performances, under the tasting. It's Guanyin's isment.

Then you will go along the lake for a moment to arrive at the residence of Cixi, the palace of Joy and Longevity. This is where the empress took its summer quarters from June, and it was in this context that it used to be used daily for festins, said, of more than one hundred and twenty dishes and, as it only touched those closest to it, the cook thus had the ones that were the closest to her, she preferred in close proximity knowing that, for the smallest detail she was unpleasant, she was whipping servants and eunuchs, showing boundless cruelty. Notice the furniture in the throne room and some of the old ones.

The shores of the lake are lined with a long covered gallery with four pavilions running on 728 m at the foot of the millennium Longevity hill. We can also go along the shores of the lake, but the main interest of the gallery lies in the 14,000 small paintings that follow it and carefully reproduce historical or mythological scenes, landscapes or floral motifs… real masterpieces that deserve a little time to be admired, even though some have lost their colors and are damaged.

The gallery is cut in its middle by the orderly Cloud Palace, where Cixi used to celebrate his birthdays. There is still a great portrait in the empress's oil. This palace is also the starting point for ascension to the millennium of Longevity (Wanshoushan). A series of doors and stairs that end fairly steep lead through several pagoda of Buddhist worship: Bright Virtue Room, Buddhist Fragrances Pavilion, from which you can enjoy a wonderful panoramic view of the lake. Then a trail climbing through the trees completes this ascent on the Temple of the Perfect Wisdom, a brick building decorated with yellow and green ceramics and housed in Buddha's effigy statuettes.

Returning to the lake, the gallery continues to the famous marble boat, which seems strangely floody, docked on the lake and where, according to history, Cixi liked to organize banquets. There are small pontons from which you can rent canoes and cross the waters of the lake from one bridge to the next. It is the water community that has the most beautiful view of the Wanshoushan as a whole. In winter, you can cross the frozen lake on foot and even indulge in the joys of the ice chair or the skating rink with the many Chinese who walk through the family weekend.

A council, plan a good day to have the time to stroll and drink a cup of tea in a small house in the gardens, to canoe on the lake and admire the diverse plant species that make up the gardens harmoniously along the promenade. The ensemble has been classified as UNESCO's World Heritage Site since 1998.

One of the best places in Beijing to admire the Chinese practicing Qi quan, the exercises of qi gong, singing, dancing and other morning gymnastics.

History

Located in the south of the city in an immense park of 273 ha, this ensemble, designed under the Ming, was to be directly connected to the sky. Hence an extremely strong essoterism: colors, geometrical shapes (traditionally, the circle represents the sky and square, land), sounds, differences in height of buildings.

Incarnation of the Ming architecture to its closest degree to perfection, the Temple of Heaven gradually became the symbol of the Chinese capital. The tradition regarded the Emperor as the son of heaven, and as such he had to visit and sacrifice to his father, the Sky, and his ancestors, if he wanted to preserve harmony between the human order and the cosmic order. This is where the emperors of the Ming dynasty and Qing came, twice a year (15 ^th day of the 1 st lunar month and the day of the winter solstice), to worship the heavens and pray for a good harvest.

Originally, heaven and earth were both venerated in this temple, and in 1530 the temple of the earth (Ditan) was built north of Beijing. The emperor was escorted from Qian Men to the Temple of Heaven by his soldiers and ministers, royal blood princes and musicians, dancers and elephants. All doors and windows along his path were closed, because no one had to see the son of heaven.

Architectural forms are direct references to the themes of Heaven and Earth: The hall of Fastinence, or palate of the square, located near the celestial door of the west, is a forbidden city in miniature, while the temple of prayer for the good harvest (Qinian Dian) and the outdoor open air are both linked to heaven.

Visit

To the north of the whole, the temple of prayer for the good harvest is the main building. A triple terrace of 5,900 m ² in the middle of a square courtyard leads to the temple of conical form. Its triple roof covered with blue tiles melts into the blue mass of the sky. Prodigious technological feat: this gigantic building designed in 1420 is a clever assembly of wooden elements without nail. Symbolism is reflected in the architectural technique itself: This 38 m height structure and 30 m width is supported by 28 solid wooden pillars. The four central pillars represent the four seasons, the first crown of twelve pillars, the months of the year and the second, the hours of the day and night. Each pillar is a massive trunk of cedar in Yunnan province.

The room is directly open to the outside with its wooden latching walls. It was in this room that the sacrifice of the late spring was held. The throne of Heaven (always empty since Heaven could not sit there) was in the center of this room and, after presenting his written prayer asking Heaven that all conditions were harmoniously combined for good harvests, the emperor burned it in a furnace at the foot of the throne. In the pavilions, the gods of the Sun, Moon, Stars and Wind, Rain, Thunder and Eclairs were vented. In the nineteenth century, the lightning fell on the temple which was then reconstructed in 1889.

In front of the temple of prayer to the right harvest, on the north-south axis lies the imperial arch of the sky (Huangqiongyu) with the blue roof topped with a golden ball. This much smaller structure, built in 1530, was designed to receive the shelves of the gods of the Sun and the Moon after the ceremony. The building is surrounded by a completely hermetic wall, the Echos wall, along which the slightest sound runs. In front of the steps leading to the building, the triple sound: all its product from the first stone is reproduced once; second, twice; and the third one, three times. On both sides of the imperial arch of heaven are rectangular buildings now transformed into small museums.

One of them presents an interesting collection of traditional musical instruments and a model reconstituting the processions that followed the emperor during the rites of prayer in the temple.

To the south, the altar of heaven (Huanqiu). Built at the same time as the imperial arch and rebuilt in 1740, this white marble altar is composed of three terraces culminating in the center in a symbolic representation around the imperial figure «9». Nine concentric circles radiate around a central stone: the first circle consists of 9 stones and the outer circle 81 stones. If you are in the middle of the central stone and start talking, your whole body will resonate with vibrations, as a kind of inner echo, experience! In the center of the upper terrace there was also a throne destined for heaven.

The Fasting Hall (Qinggong), located at the east gate. This is where the emperors and their ministers observed a three-day fast before each ceremony. Having dressed a dress embroidered with dragons, the emperor opened the ceremony by burning incense, offered the ancestors and the supreme emperor sacrifices of animals and gifts according to custom, silks, jade tablets… Then a herald read the written prayer of the emperor while as a herald… The latter was prostrated and burned in the furnace with the altar all offerings… as well as the text of prayer addressed to Heaven.

While everything consumed himself was dances, music and songs. Then the emperor went back into his palace in a palanquin different from the one that brought him. Today, the Hall of Fasting has become an exhibition hall presenting various instruments of sacrifice, dating mainly from Qing period.

The temple of heaven is to be visited absolutely. It is with the temple of the Lamas one of the most beautiful in Beijing, and, whatever the season, you will be enchanted by the magic of the places. In order to enjoy the time to enjoy the palaces, the park (with some very old trees quite impressive) and the general ambience of this site, count a big half-day visit. The entire site has been classified as UNESCO's World Heritage Site since 1998.

Registan used to be the heart of Samarkand, and a compact and colourful crowd would gather around the many stalls that crowded the madrasas. The indefatigable Swiss traveller, Ella Maillard, had the good fortune, during her visit to Samarkand in 1932, to stay in the Tilla Kari Madrasa, whose cells were then used to accommodate visitors passing through. Less hospitable, the Chir Dor Madrasa served as a place of detention for basmatchi - Muslims who opposed Soviet rule - awaiting execution. Here, as around the Gur Emir, the houses have been demolished to make way for cleanliness. One could think of the decor of a deserted theatre: the three huge and superb madrasas Oulough Begh, Chir Dor and Tilla Kari border a large empty esplanade and, on the fourth side, slightly set back, rise bleachers that welcome visitors during the sound and light shows. In the 14th century, the six main arteries that started from the city gates intersected at this location, on a vast sandy square. Not that sand covered the whole square, but sand was thrown in abundance to absorb the blood spilled during public executions. Tamerlan wanted to facilitate trade and encourage merchants, who paid heavy taxes, to come to Samarkand. He had a street lined with shops built that ran through the city from one end to the other and a huge bazaar. Continuing his work, his wife, Tuman Aka, built a tim, a large domed covered market. During the reign of Ulugh Begh in the early 15th century, the Registan became the official seat of Samarkand. Its new status was accompanied by major works, the domed market was demolished and a madrasah, a khanaka, a caravanserai and a mosque were built. It was also a strategic place and, at the end of the 15th century, when the enemies were encircling Samarkand, Babur, the last of the Timurids, had set up his headquarters on top of the madrasah of Ulugh Begh, the real centre of the city.

To the west, the Ulugh Begh Madrasa is the oldest of the three. Built between 1417 and 1420, it is recognizable by its northern minaret, slightly inclined, as if it was struggling to support the sky, a role attributed to these two gigantic minarets, 33 m high, which flank the portal and never welcomed imams. The guides like to tell how, during the restoration, the Russians tried unsuccessfully to rotate the minaret on its base to put it back upright. The portal, decorated with a mosaic of fired bricks and bricks glazed in the colours of the sky, rises like a huge vessel towards the celestial vault. Spirals of majolica, star motifs with five or ten branches, a few rare touches of yellow or green... the eye is lost in this bewitching spatial geometry.

Both the wings and the minarets are entirely covered with girikh, geometric patterns. Inside, about fifty cells spread over two levels form a square courtyard. At the corners of the building, high courtyard rooms were topped by domes that have now been destroyed. When it was built in 1417, the Madrasa of Ulugh Begh was the largest university in Central Asia. More than a hundred students studied the Koran, but also astronomy, mathematics, philosophy and literature. Kazy-Zade-Rumi, the so-called "Plato of his time", came to teach astronomy. Ulugh Begh, an enlightened governor, mathematician, astronomer, poet and politician, also came to the madrasah courtyard to argue with the students. This opening towards non-religious matters caused his death, his own son, allied with religious fanatics, had him assassinated in 1449. "The owls had taken the place of the students in these cells, and instead of silk curtains, their doors were stretched with cobwebs. "The description dates from 1711.

At this time, the sumptuous Samarkand seems to be fast asleep. The market, which has taken over in the centre of the city and grafted itself onto the buildings, flooded the Registan square with rubbish; brought by the wind, the sand also rushed in and the ground level rose by more than two metres! In 1873, Eugène Schuyller pointed out the dilapidated state of the madrasah, which has only one floor left, as well as the optical illusion that makes the minarets appear leaning. It is in order to repair this "illusion" that in the 20th century the architects in charge of the restoration of monuments tried in vain to straighten the right-hand minaret. The back of the courtyard is occupied by a mosque.

To the east, facing the Oulough Begh Madrasa, the Chir Dor Madrasa was not erected until two centuries later. At the beginning of the 17th century, Yalangtush Bakhadur, vizier of Imam Kouli khan and governor of Samarkand, probably wanting to wake up the sleeping city and leave his mark on it, destroyed what was left of the caravanserai and the khanaka and had a madrasah built on the other side of the square, mirroring that of Ulugh Begh, between 1619 and 1635. Its fire-coloured lion tigers adorning a portal as bright as the sun respond to the starry vault of the madrasah of Uulough Begh: the power of the sun facing the infinity of space. Legend has it that the architect responsible for the construction of Chir Dor perished for violating the laws of Islam that prohibit figurative art.

It was this tiger-lion that gave the madrasa its name: Chir Dor means 'who carries the lion'. The width of the two buildings is identical, but the Chir Dor Madrasa, built on the foundations of the ancient khanaka, is slightly lower than the Ulugh Begh Madrasa. On each side of the portal, two fluted bulbous domes with aerial relief cap the study rooms. Many inscriptions decorate the portal and the drums of the domes: "You are the great warrior, Yalangtush Bakhadur, if we add the numbers of your name, we get the date of foundation. "And also: "He raised up a madrasah so that through him the earth was brought to the zenith of heaven. "Or again: "Never in the course of the centuries will the skilful acrobat of thought, by the rope of fantasy, reach the forbidden peaks of the minarets. »

Facing the stands, the Tilla Kari Madrasa, which is lower and has a longer façade than the two previous ones, closes off the north side of Registan Square. On its left, the blue dome of the mosque distinguishes the madrasa from its two neighbours. It is to this mosque that the madrasah owes its name: Tilla Kari means "covered with gold". One only has to admire the stunning decorations inside the dome to see that this nickname is entirely justified. The high portal and the two levels of cells are decorated with majolica, intertwined floral motifs and solar symbols that echo the tones of the Chir Dor Mosque. Yalangtush wanted to endow Samarkand with a Friday mosque worthy of his rank, that of Bibi Khanum being already in ruins. He had a large mosque built adjacent to the courtyard of a madrasah, so that he could accommodate the largest number of worshippers during public ceremonies. The madrasa was built on the site of the caravanserai built under the Timurids, the foundations of which are still preserved. The work lasted more than 10 years, from 1646 to 1659, and the mosque was indeed covered with gold. It is the youngest monument in the square and, undoubtedly, due to the imbalance created by the dome of the mosque at the corner of a 120 m façade, the most astonishing. Of the three madrasas, this one is the only one to have outward-facing cells, like the Mir-i-Arab madrasah in Bukhara. The walls, the dome and the mihrab are entirely decorated with red and gold floral motifs on an ultramarine blue background. The dome is particularly impressive, the concentric circles of gold leaf on a midnight blue background seem to catch the eye towards infinity. The ceiling is as flat as a table, but the trompe l'oeil decorations make it appear vaulted. Space has been set aside to display photographs taken before and during the restoration

The necropolis of the 'Living King', Shah-i-Zinda, is an alleyway that climbs up the hill of Afrosyab and once led to the ancient city gates. An unusual street on the edge of which was built, in the 11th century, the mausoleum of Qassim-ibn Abbas, a Muslim missionary and cousin of the Prophet Mohammed who arrived in Sogdiana in 676 with the first wave of Arab conquerors. Qassim-ibn Abbas was beheaded by the infidels while he was praying, and legend has it that he then seized his head and descended into a well leading to paradise where he presided over a "court of souls" surrounded by two assessors. The legend takes up the Zoroastrian myth of the judges of the Underworld: Solar Mithra, Srôsh and Rashn, or that of the "Living King" dating from before the Islamic conquest, and which tells how, after his death, the Afrosyab king continued to reign in the kingdom of the dead. The Arab conquerors and the missionaries of Islam thus appropriated many Zoroastrian, Manichean or Nestorian beliefs for the benefit of the heroes of the new religion. In the 11th and 12th centuries, many tombs and mausoleums were built near the saint's mausoleum and the great mosque next to it. When the Mongols took and destroyed the ancient city of Samarkand, only the tomb of Qassim-ibn Abbas (also called Kussam or Kutham) was spared. In the Timurid period, in the 14th and 15th centuries, noble families and family members of Tamerlan were built mausoleums near the tomb of Qassim-ibn Abbas, the Islamic belief that the proximity of a saint's tomb provides protection in the afterlife. These new constructions gave the street its current configuration.

The entrance portal, or pishtak, is flanked by the first chortak, a small passage surmounted by a dome supported by four arches (literally: 'chortak'), where the following inscription can be read: 'This majestic ensemble was built by Abd-al-Aziz khan, son of Ulugh Begh, son of Shakhrukh, son of Amir Timur in the year 838 AH. "» (1434-1435). In fact, it was Uulough Begh who was the real builder on behalf of his still young son.

At the foot of the forty steps of the "Stairway to Paradise" or "Fishermen's Stairway", there is a mosque with iwan and finely carved colonnades where believers come to listen to the prayers of the imam. This is where Qassim-ibn Abbas would have been beheaded.

The staircase leads to the mausoleum of Kazy Zadeh Roumi, on the left, built between 1420 and 1435 for the tutor of Ulugh Begh. Considered the Plato of his time, Kazy Zade Rumi would not actually be buried here: the skeleton discovered in the mausoleum was that of a woman, perhaps Tamerlan's nurse. It is the largest building in the complex. The prayer room and the mausoleum are surmounted by two very high domes. The staircase was built in the 18th century on the site of the ancient walls surrounding Samarkand in the pre-Mongolian period. It goes up to the second chortak, dating from the 19th century and erected on the site of the ancient wall of Afrosyab.

The first mausoleum to the right of the second chortak is that of Emir Hussein, also known as Tuglu Tekin, son of a Turkish man named Kara Kutkul and a famous Turkish commander whom Tamerlan took as his model while claiming to be of his descent. Tamerlan had the mausoleum built in 1376, when Tuglu Tekin had died a martyr's death in the 8th century.

Facing him, the mausoleum of Emir Zade (son of the Emir) dates from 1386 and is said to contain the remains of an unknown son of Tamerlan. Just above, on the same side, the mausoleum of Shadi Mulk Aka (1372) was built on the order of Tourkan Ata, Tamerlan's sister, to bury her daughter. The emperor, for whom his niece meant a great deal, had the following inscription engraved: "This is a tomb where a precious pearl was lost. "It is the oldest mausoleum in the complex, and also the oldest building in Timurid Samarkand.

Opposite, in the mausoleum of Chirin Bika Aka (1385), lies Tamerlan's second sister, under a dome with a 16-sided base. The facade is decorated with dark blue openwork mosaics. The interior decoration was made by an artist from Azerbaijan. Surprisingly, on the façade on either side of the portal, the inscriptions in Arabic are not suras from the Koran, but words of the Greek philosopher Socrates. It reads: "Socrates said: people are sad in all circumstances. »

On the same side, the octahedral mausoleum remains a mystery. Dating from the 15th century, it is considered a mausoleum, but no human debris has been found there. According to another hypothesis, it could be a minaret, but there is no evidence of this in its vast rotunda architecture. Little is also known about the next three mausoleums on the left side of the driveway. The third chortak opens on the northern and last part of the necropolis. On the left is the Tuman Aka Mosque, built in 1405, and the adjoining mausoleum, built in 1404, for Tuman Aka, Tamerlan's youngest wife. On a square base, the turquoise blue dome rests on a high cylindrical drum. If the mosaics of the portal may recall the mausoleum of Chirin Bika Aka, the originality of the decoration lies in the use of the colour purple, extremely rare at the time. The interior has been deliberately left white, which is also unusual, and the decorations are limited to a few landscape frescoes under the dome. Above the finely carved wooden door it reads: "The tomb is a door that everyone goes through. "In front of the Tuman Aka Mosque, the finely worked elm wood door, once enhanced with gold, silver and ivory, is the work of the Shiraz master Yusuf. Nicknamed the "Gateway to Paradise", it has been opening for more than 600 years to the kingdom of Qassim-ibn Abbas. Excavations have unearthed, on the right wall of the corridor, remains of the wall of the former 11th century mosque, whose minaret can be seen above and to the right. It also dates from the 11th century, which makes it the oldest monument of the complex, and the only one from that period in the Shah-i-Zinda. Passing the "Gate of Paradise", the corridor leads to the Qassim-ibn Abbas Mosque. The mihrab is decorated in mosaic, a technique that was used in Samarkand from the end of the 14th century and of which Central Asian craftsmen became virtuoso. The glazed earthenware mosaic pieces depict leaves, flower petals, thin branches or inscriptions, and are assembled without gaps. The next room is the ziaratkhana, or prayer room. Behind a wooden fence in the gurkhana is the tomb of Qassim-ibn Abbas, dating from the 11th century and entirely decorated with majolica. It says: "He who has died following Allah, is not dead: he is indeed alive. "Archaeologists have also researched this area and discovered a shaft 18 metres deep. The decorations in the room may appear to be original as they have been erased. In fact, they were fully restored in 1995, but the humidity level was such that all the work was spoiled in the following months. An air conditioner was installed to try to remedy the problem, but one only has to look at the corners of the walls and floor to realize the vanity of the attempt. To save what remains, it is strongly advised against leaning against the walls or even putting your fingers on them.

Coming out of the saint's tomb, immediately to the right and opposite the Tuman Aka Mausoleum is the Kutlug Aka Mausoleum, from 1360, which houses another of Tamerlan's women. Its portal is decorated with chiselled and glazed terracotta.

Closing the northern end of the necropolis, the Khodja Akhmad Mausoleum dates from 1350 and is the oldest mausoleum of Shah-i-Zinda after that of Qassim-ibn Abbas. Its portal was decorated with blue and white majolica by the Samarkand craftsman, Fakhr Ali.