Nature’s Palette by johschermer

The photo was taken from the Watchtower with a view of the “Utrechtse Heuvelrug” in Doorn .. a great place to visit .
Many thanks for looking and for your most kind comments,, Hanna

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故宫西北角楼 Forbidden City by harrisonz

Lying at the city center and called Gu Gong in Chinese, it was the imperial palace for twenty-four emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was first built throughout 14 years during the reign of Emperor Chengzu in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Ancient Chinese Astronomers believed that the Purple Star (Polaris) was in the center of heaven and the Heavenly Emperor lived in the Purple Palace. The Palace for the emperor on earth was so called the Purple City. It was forbidden to enter without special permission of the emperor. Hence its name ‘The Purple Forbidden City’, usually ‘The Forbidden City’, which is surrounded by looped city wall and moat.

This photo was taken after a strong storm at time of sunset on July 21, 2014 for the northeast watchtower of the Forbidden City.

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The Watchtower by nalini

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All along the watchtower… 🙂

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無言獨上西樓 by JulienFolcher

Today I finally decided to wake up early and go watch the sunrise from the North West corner of the forbidden city.

This tower is said to be the only element of the palace that doesn’t respond to the Heaven / Earth symbolic dichotomy of the complex. As the architect was running out of time to design those tower and facing death penalty for the delay, he decided to spend his remaining time designing a new cage for his grasshopper pet. The emperor mistaken the cage design for the tower and liked it…

This is one of the “classic shots” of Beijing.

Please view on black background (H)

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