The Dingling Underground Palace unveiled in
1956, was the 1st of the 13 Ming imperial tombs to be officially
opened to the public. The tombs can be found on the southern slopes
of the Tianshou Mountains 48km (30 miles) to the northwest of
Beijing.
Emperor Wanli (1563-1620) and his 2 empresses
were buried at Dingling at his death. Emperor Wanli reigned for 48
years, the longest of all the Ming emperors and his tomb is
definitely the most extravagant - the tomb was built over a period
of six years by some 30,000 workers, and the equivalent of 2 years
of national land tax revenues was spent on construction.
The tomb is 27 meters (89ft) below the ground and covers an area of
1,195 sq meters. It consists of 5 rooms connected by giant marble
archways and floors paved by a highly polished stone known as "gold
bricks". The central hall has 3 marble imperial thrones and
offerings made of yellow glazed pottery. The rear hall is the most
important and impressive, it contains 3 platforms used to support
the coffins of the Emperor and his wives and was surrounded by 26
red lacquer chests filled with valuables made from gold, silver,
jade and porcelain. In addition, sacred objects of jade and
porcelain were placed around these chests.
These and some of the other 3,000 objects
unearthed from this palace are on display in the 2 exhibition halls.
The objects include the emperor's crown and robes and the empresses'
robes, jewels and phoenix tiaras.
TOUR
UNDERGROUND PALACE (MING TOMBS)
Check our Beijing Bus Tour Programs.
With our one-day group tour program, you can visit Underground
Palace (Ming Tomb) on the way after you tour the Great Wall at
Mutianyu.
Learn more about Beijing private and
non-private tours.
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