A photo from open sources Tenth of October 2005 turned 80 years from the day the Imperial Palace in Beijing which is all habitually called the Forbidden City, became a museum. Forbidden City on For 500 years it was the capital of the Middle Kingdom, 24 were ruled from here Emperor of the Ming Dynasties (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911). NOT TO BREAK SILENCE By the anniversary of the museum, which is included in UNESCO World Heritage List held large-scale restoration, which cost the Chinese treasury almost 0 million. For visitors are first opened by Wu Ying Palace and Fujian Palace Garden. Chinese know-how of maintaining the authenticity of the great monument history and architecture people and technology. Many of those working here today – the descendants of those who once built the Imperial palace. They use ancient recipes. When restoring wooden Buildings do not use nails; they do without brushes when painting: for centuries, the Chinese painted columns with silk fabric, dipping it in paint and wrapping columns in fabric – three to four times until the desired shade is reached. Imperial palace – a combination of spacious squares and magnificent palaces with labyrinths of narrow alleys. Even the smallest details have secret meaning and meaning. However, like everything in China. At the beginning XX century on the square in front of the Imperial Palace could only set foot few high-ranking officials, and only in the front door robes, and foreign nationals. They should have stood silently with bated breath so as not to break the sacred silence. Simple to the people – laobaisin – it was strictly forbidden even approach the palace. But also those lucky ones who were allowed to yard, could not move freely around the residence: inside the Forbidden City there were completely inaccessible territories – rooms where the crowned family lived. I could go in there only the emperor himself and the eunuchs. RED AND YELLOW If look at the Forbidden City from the height of Coal Hill – beloved Emperor’s park, you will see yellow roofs and red walls. Yellow and red – the main colors of the Imperial Palace. In ancient China red color meant solemnity, wealth and reverence. Palaces painted red, were built here already 2,000 years ago. The second, most important Chinese color is yellow, the color of the tiles Forbidden City. The Chinese believed that the universe consists of five Elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. The most important of all was considered the land that designated the center. Yellow is the most pure of all known colors, it is the color of the earth – the center the universe. It symbolizes a high position and a ritual. If any official or members of his family dressed in yellow or used this color in a different way – for example, in design interior or covered their homes with yellow tiles, they were waiting severe punishment, right up to the death penalty, together with all the children and household members. True, there is a building in the Forbidden City not with yellow, but with a black roof – Wenyuang, Imperial Library. The black – it is the color of water that defeats fire. So the black roof a library in which many flammable books, in accordance with the philosophy of feng shui was supposed to protect against fires. ETERNAL FIGURE An important role in everyday life Emperor of the Celestial Empire also played numbers. Favorite number of Chinese there are nine rulers, and in the Forbidden City you can meet him literally at every turn. Nine was considered an imperial number because it is the last and largest digit before the ten, and that is the number of Heaven. In addition, “nine” (jiu) in Chinese is consonant the word “eternal”, and any emperor wanted, if not him, so him the dynasty ruled until the end of the century. At many doors of the Forbidden cities are golden rivets which originally had quite a pragmatic purpose is to hide nails. If you count the rivets in each line – horizontal, vertical and even diagonal, there will always be nine. Emperor Yongle (1403-1420) who built this magnificent city, it was decided that the palace will ten thousand rooms. But it was worth giving such a task to architects as in a dream, the Jade Emperor appeared to him. He was angry: after all, in there were exactly 10 thousand rooms in the own palace of the Lord of Heaven! To build the same for an emperor living on earth means encroach on the authority of heaven. In the morning, Emperor Yongle called senior officials to discuss the prophetic (he in this was no doubt) a dream. So it was decided that in The Forbidden City will be 9999 and a half rooms. Builders tricked Emperor Yongle, hoping that the exact number of rooms nobody will count. Today in the Forbidden City 980 palaces facilities, and in them 8728 rooms. Half is considered small room on the first floor of the palace. FOR RICE WEIGHT Simple people who could admire the yellow roofs of the imperial residence only from a respectful distance, he composed various legends about her. They said that the floors in the palaces are covered with gold – and were not far from truths. Jinzhuan plates were not made of gold, but they cost almost like gold. Produced Jinzhuan near the city of Suzhou – local clay was considered the best in the country. In the manufacture of plates It was necessary to follow complex and strictly established rules: the choice clay, shaping, casting, drying in the shade and finally firing in ovens. This was the most difficult. First slab for a month smoked, wrapped in a special husk, then another month fired with sawdust, and the last 40 days – with pine branches. The firing process took 130 days, and the cost of each made according to this recipe, the slab was 0.96 tal silver. While with this money you could buy 100 kg of rice. Stacking these extraordinary slabs was no less complicated than their production. Highly skilled worker with two assistants. coped with just five stoves a day. Each was polished adjusted in size and soaked in tung oil – hence their glitter reminiscent of the flickering of precious jasper. Slabs to this day They are still strong, you can hardly see any cracks on them. Although by he walked millions and millions of feet …
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