The Ming Tombs, consisting of 13 emperor tombs of the Ming Dynasty, is situated in the southern foothills of Yianshou Mountain northwest of Beijing. Two of the 13, Changling and Dingling, are excavated and open to the public.
Approach to the Ming Tombs is a seven kilometers stone-paved road, beginning with a very impressive archway of carved white marble erected in 1540, followed by giant-size single-stone statues of 24 animals and 12 humans.
In front of Changling, the largest of the 13 Tombs, is the marble-based 1,956 square meters Ling En Hall built 570 years ago. It is built of very precious wood and is China's largest wooden structure. 4 of the 32 huge pillars stand in the center, measuring 1.17 meters in diameter each. A two-story castle sits in the rear of the main hall.
Dingling is the tomb of Zhu Yijun, the 13th Ming emperor. It consists of similar surface structure and a Underground Palace. The Underground Palace is composed of the front, central, rear, and side halls. The whole palace is built compeletely with stone, and not a single piece of wood is used. There are no beams and the ceiling is arched. The rear hall is the Burial Chamber, where the emperor's coffin and the first and second empress's coffins were placed. Inside the coffins a large number of valuable relics were found. The unearthed relics, including porcelains, jade carvings, silk, woman's head-dresses decorated with golden phoenixes and jewels, wooden seals, and other precious article, are now on display in the Dingling museum.
The Ming tombs were put under protection of the Beijing municipal government in 1957.
In July 2003, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee at its 27th session officially inscribed Ming Tombs (Shisanling) in Beijing on the World Heritage List as assemblage of the Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
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