My final stop back in January (finally finishing up all my January tours!) at the Forbidden Gardens was the massive Imperial City model which was covered by a giant pavilion and had an entire city laid out in miniature with various buildings, people and festivities.
I was seriously blown away by all the details everywhere- from the Chinese figurines to the stunning architectural details.
The scene was set with some type of large ceremony with hundreds of miniature people set up celebrating, and several of the places had names like “Hall of Supreme Harmony” or “Gate of Heavenly Purity”. The “Hall of Cultivating the Mind” was just a reminder of the reasons I was there to appreciate art and capture a bit of history before it was destroyed.
Amidst the perfect order of every person in their place as part of the ceremony, many had been knocked over by mother nature or pesky children that mistook this as a giant playground.
The entire exhibit probably covered almost an acre & beyond the ceremonial centerpiece, ordinary life was depicted in the scenes.
I thought this little garden scene, with a few flowers and trees thrown in was really adorable and made me want to visit a place like this in real life.
The procession was so detailed- the drummers, the people preparing food, the soldiers standing guard.
And one single freshly painted building stood apart from the rest. I don’t know why it was painted a totally different color or if all the buildings looked like this many years ago. Over the past several months, I’ve heard various updates on the status of the Forbidden Gardens- namely that the terra cotta warriors and various pieces were being sold on Craigslist and to local collectors. I’m deeply saddened that this amazing exhibit is no more, but I’m really tankful I got the opportunity to visit before it was gone.
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: 7+ hours on a plane today as I head to NY and back home tonight.
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