Architectural 'Selfie' - A Visit to Beijing's Museum of Ancient Architecture

Recently, with a cold wind outside and our boys happily playing at a neighbor's house (thank you!), Paul and I went on a mini-adventure to the Beijing Ancient Architecture Museum. The museum is located on the grounds of a renovated Ming Dynasty temple and--as we discovered after paying a hefty 15 Yuan entry fee (about US$2.50 or Euro 1.80)--includes lots of interesting information about the construction of the many temples, palaces, and pagoda's in China.

Museum entrance: 15 Yuan. Temple value: Millions. Taking your first selfie?  Priceless!


This might have been our first selfie...


Old (though re-painted) grain storage sheds on the grounds of the museum.

 
This particular exhibit showed how the temples can be constructed without the use of nails. Everything just neatly comes together to create the corner-structures for the building.


A typical building corner using the pieces shown in the pictures above. (I suppose there is a more technical term for 'building corner'?)

I can't even think of putting this together.


China's temples also usually have the most beautiful colors. Much more than I have seen in Europe, older buildings here are typically restored and repainted with original (?) colors.



After leaving the museum, we walk through the other ancient architecture: Beijing's nice hutongs and small streets.

In het Nederlands: Nog net voor kerst waren Paul en ik een middagje in het museum. Na drie jaar tempels bezoeken was het leuk meer te leren over hoe ze gebouwd zijn.