Forbidden City Yellow Roofs

But this colour also symbolises fire and that is the reason why the library roof is the only roof in the city that is black instead of yellow.

Forbidden city yellow roofs.

One example is wenyuange the imperial library in beijing s forbidden city which amidst many yellow roofs stands under a roof of black tiles. Here are a few examples. The roofs of the buildings in the city were made with yellow tiles. In the forbidden city building there are more than 10 different types of roofs.

Even the bricks on the ground are made yellow by a special process. Any study done the forbidden city has approximately 8500 rooms so the legend is false. This color can only be used by imperial families in ancient china. Red is associated with fertility and good fortune so all of the buildings and defensive walls are red.

It is that of the number 9. The buildings all faced south which stood for holiness. Red walls yellow roofs and green blue decorations. The main hall is mainly yellow.

There is much more in the forbidden city waiting for you to discover. They also faced away from the north which symbolized the enemies of the chinese cold winds and evil. Green is used. The forbidden city was designed using ancient chinese symbolism and philosophy.

Another principle is often respected even if it is more questionable. Yellow and red are the main colors of forbidden city architectures. It is found in many places such as the number of animals visible on a roof or the number of nails on the doors. The roof form of chinese architecture is rich and colorful.

Books were liable to catch fire black was supposed to be the colour of water and a black coloured roof would mean ever ready water to put out fires. The main forbidden city colors. Therefore yellow became the dominant color in the forbidden city. Even the roof tiles in the forbidden city are glazed in yellow to clearly announce his divinity.

Take the three halls as an example the roofs are different. Decorations in the palace are painted yellow. Though the majority of the forbidden city s walls are made of grey brick and many of the stairs and terraces are made from bright white marble there are also many bold and colorful elements and there are very deliberate choices behind the colors used. Even the forbidden city s smallest design details are rich in symbolism from its golden yellow tiles a color linking the emperor to the sun to the ceramic animals that line the corners of.