Page:Album of photographs of Peking and its environs.pdf/79



This handsome rotunda is the most noteworthy of any of the edifices in China, it is built on the top tier of three circular terraces that form an elegant base for the grand dome; these terraces are eighteen feet wide and are reached by three flights of steps having handsome balustrades of elaborately carved marble, on the apex of the triple roof is placed a gilt ball. The height of the pavilion to the top of this ball is a trifle under one hundred feet.

In the interior of the building there is a tablet to Yuh-hwang-shan-ti on each side of which there are placed handsomely carved chairs.