A sun temple (or solar temple ) is a building used for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, dedicated to the sun or a solar deity . Such temples were built by a number different cultures and are distributed around the world including in India , China , Egypt , Japan and Peru . Some of the temples are in ruins, undergoing excavation , preservation or restoration and a few are listed as World Heritage Sites individually or as part of a larger site, such as Konark .
15-796: The Temple of the Sun in Beijing , China , was built in 1530 during the Ming dynasty by the Jiajing Emperor , together with new temples dedicated to the Earth and the Moon , and an expansion of the Temple of Heaven . The Temple of the Sun was used by the imperial court for elaborate acts of worship involving fasting, prayers, dancing and animal sacrifices, as part of a year-long cycle of ceremonies involving all
30-637: A main temple building at a higher elevation, accessed by a causeway, from a much smaller entrance building. In 2006, archaeologists found ruins underneath a market in Cairo, which could possibly be the largest temple built by Ramesses II . The sun temples of the Indian subcontinent are dedicated to the Hindu deity Surya , with the most prominent among them being the Konark Sun Temple (also known as
45-426: A room or hall, usually for one or more speakers or honored guests. Historically, the dais was a part of the floor at the end of a medieval hall , raised a step above the rest of the room. On this, the master of the household or assembly (e.g. the lord of the manor ) dined with his senior associates and friends at the high table, while the other guests occupied the lower area of the room. In medieval halls, there
60-460: Is Yong'anli on the Beijing subway Line 1 . The park was initially home to the Temple of the Sun ( simplified Chinese : 日坛 ; traditional Chinese : 日壇 ; pinyin : Rìtán ), an altar built in 1530 during the late Ming Dynasty . The altar was built in 1530 during the late Ming Dynasty for use in ritual sacrifice to the sun by the Emperor of China . The original Altar of the sun
75-411: Is free of charge and open 24 hours a day. Restaurants and snacks are available inside the park. This Beijing location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Dais A dais or daïs ( / ˈ d eɪ . ə s / or / ˈ d eɪ s / , American English also / ˈ d aɪ . ə s / but sometimes considered nonstandard) is a raised platform at the front of
90-473: Is hard to spot and not well indicated. The Shen Ku and Shen Chu is the place where the tablets of the temple were found. The Qinghui pavilion is the high point with a panoramic view of the park. Below the pavilion is a pond with rockies, a café (the Stone Boat café), much lotus... Many people visit the park in the morning to practice tai chi or other forms of physical or spiritual exercises. The park
105-657: The Black Pagoda ), a UNESCO World Heritage Site . at Konark in Odisha and the Sun Temple at Modhera , Gujarat , built in 1026–1027. Both are now ruins, having been destroyed by invading Muslim armies . Konark was constructed around 1250, by Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty . Surya was an important deity in early Hinduism, but sun worship largely declined as a principal deity around
120-604: The 12th century. In Manipuri mythology , the sun god Korouhanba is the synonym of the Hindu deity Surya . Other Surya or sun temples in the Indian subcontinent include: The following are Pre-Columbian temples of Inti (the Inca god Sun): There are also sun temple sites in a number of other countries: The name Temple of the Sun or Sun Temple was given to a folly which stood in Kew Gardens from 1761 until 1916. It
135-565: The end of Maoist policies. During the 2008 Summer Olympics , it was selected as one of the three protest zones . The area surrounding the Ritan temple is now a public park, and the site features extensive gardens and a small lake. On the opposite side of Beijing, to the west, is the Temple of the Moon , located in Fuchengmen . There is a Sino-Japanese Friendship Monument in the park, but it
150-597: The sun altar. The temple was abandoned in 1911. Its park was renamed Ritan (or Ri Tan) Park in 1949 and reopened in 1951. In the 1970s, the Ritan Park became part of the embassy district of the city. In the 1980s, the park was restored and expanded southwards with the Quchi Shengchun garden (or Yuxin garden), and the Sun Mural was installed in the park to commemorate the opening policies of Deng Xiaoping and
165-670: The temples. An important element was the colour red, which was associated with the Sun, including red utensils for food and wine offerings, and red clothes for the emperor to wear during the ceremonies. The temple is now part of a public park. In ancient Egypt , there were a number of sun temples. Among these old monuments is the Great Temple of Ramses at Abu Simbel, and complexes built by the Fifth Dynasty , of which only two examples survive, that of Userkaf and of Niuserre . The Fifth Dynasty temples usually had three components,
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#1732801124756180-488: The troops are reviewed, addresses are made, and salutes are taken. It can also have stairs and a throne. In life drawing rooms of art schools , the platform where the model poses for the students is sometimes referred to as the dais. A dais for giving speeches is called a rostrum . The first written record of the word dais in English is from the thirteenth century. It stopped being used in English around 1600 but
195-543: Was a rectangular white-stone dais covered with red glaze, and four stairways (north, east, south and west) with nine steps measuring 18.3 yards (16.7 m) in width and length, and 7 feet (2.1 m) in height. The temple had been destroyed and restored to reopen in 1556 to the public. Upon entering the premises, the emperors would pass through the Heavenly West Gate and along the Sacred Way that led to
210-524: Was designed and built by William Chambers , who also planted a cedar tree next to the structure earlier, in 1725. In 1916, a storm brought down the cedar tree, which destroyed the folly in the process. Temple of the Sun (Beijing) The Ritan is a public park located in Chaoyang District , Beijing , China . It is within the Jianguomen area. The nearest Beijing Subway station
225-406: Was generally a deeply recessed bay window at one or both ends of the dais, which provided retirement or greater privacy than the open hall. The dais area often had its own doorway for admission from the master's chambers, whereas most of the guests entered through a doorway leading into the main area of the hall. At military parades , the dais is the raised, sometimes covered, platform from where
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