Chaotian Palace, Nanjing南京朝天宫
- Type
- Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)
- Location
- China · Jiangsu · Nanjing · No. 4 Chaotian Gong, Mount Ye, Qinhuai District
- Coordinates
- 32.029, 118.772 Map ↗
- School
- Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoism
- First built
- Eastern Jin (Yecheng Temple); the Tianqing Temple was built in the Song during the Dazhong Xiangfu era · In the seventeenth year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming (1384) it was bestowed the name Chaotian Palace, serving as a Ming imperial Daoist temple and a venue for rehearsing court audiences; converted into a Confucian temple during the Qing Tongzhi era; the surviving buildings date to the Qing, and it is now the site of the Nanjing Museum.
- Heritage status
- Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (2006)
Overview
Chaotian Palace stands on Mount Ye west of the old city of Nanjing; tradition holds that King Fuchai of Wu cast metal here during the Spring and Autumn period. The Eastern Jin built Yecheng Temple on the site; in the Tang it was Taiqing Palace; during the Dazhong Xiangfu era of the Song a Tianqing Temple was built there; the Yuan renamed it Xuanmiao Temple and then Yongshou Palace; in the seventeenth year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming (1384) it was rebuilt by imperial decree and bestowed the name "Chaotian Palace," becoming one of the largest imperial Daoist temples of the Ming dynasty and doubling as the venue where officials rehearsed court ritual before audiences with the emperor — at its height it comprised several hundred halls. It was repeatedly destroyed in the Qing, and during the Tongzhi era was converted into the Confucian Temple of Jiangning Prefectural School, forming the layout that survives today: the Lingxing Gate, the Hall of Great Achievement, the Hall of Exalted Sagehood, and the prefectural school and Bian Gong Shrine flanking them to east and west — the most completely preserved Qing-dynasty Confucian-temple-style architectural complex in the Jiangnan region. It is now the site of the Nanjing Museum, which holds artifacts from the Six Dynasties through the Ming and Qing. Chaotian Palace bears witness to the functional transformation from Daoist temple to Confucian temple, and its Daoist history is especially valued by scholars of early Ming Daoist institutions.
Highlights
- Lingxing Gate
- Hall of Great Achievement (Qing)
- Mount Ye
- Nanjing Museum