The T'ien An Mên
UARDING the outer courts of the Forbidden City, and separating them
from the streets and compounds of the Imperial City, there stands one of the most impressive monuments to be found within the high walls of the
capital. This mammoth gateway, second only to the giant Wu Men in size 8 and grandeur, is known as the Tien An Mén, or Gate of Heaven's Peace.
With a beautiful roof of yellow glaze, huge red pillars, colorful eaves, and sculptured balustrades, this tower on the wall is a striking monument of Oriental art.
Fronting the impressive red walls of this huge archway there runs a picturesque canal, flanked by pillared balustrades and crossed by five marble bridges. These bridges, gently curved, and marvelously decorated, are again fronted by two marble pillars smoothed with soft sculpture to reflect a ceaseless sunshine, and rise into a cloudless sky."
As will be seen from the picture, the roof is easily the most remarkable feature of this splendid structure. Indeed, the roof has always been the outstanding characteristic in Chinese architecture. "This preponderance of a part usually sacrificed in Western architecture," writes Miss Bredon, "is justified by the smaller vertical elevation of a plan originally derived from the tent model, but carried to the highest perfection and made eaduring by the use of materials that last. The downward curve of the tiling and the up Dard tilt of the eaves are simply the natural slope of the canvas and its uplifting by the tent poles. The slender tent poles themselves have developed into the supporting pillars, while the omamental eaves are but the solidified fringes of embroidered valances, and their gargoyles the evolution of the weights which once held them in place.
- For the sake of variety the Chinese architect would occasionally double or even triple his roof.... He also gave careful attention to the decoration of the crest and eaves with their grotesque animal forms, and the coloring of the brilliant glazed tiles was rever chosen at random, but regulated by strict sumptuary laws to denote the rank of his patron, Finally, the close observer will notice that however straight and square roofs may appear from a distance, there is actually not a single straight line in them. Even the main sweep of the tiles has a slight wave, a ripple, which is not accidental but expressly introduced to charm the eye without detracting from the purity of line or its restful simplicity.
"If we compare the beauty and purity of line here to the over-elaborate Hindu and Indo-Chinese art, we must admit the superiority of an instinctive classical taste which well knows the greatest architectural secret of decorating a construction, but never descends to construct a decoration, and as one enters into a sympathetic study of these vast monuments which have survived the storms of five long centuries, he cannot help but appreciate the genius of Yung lê's architects, who created monuments in harmony with all that is grand in all the world."
