Forbidden City and Holy City: Beijing and Rome

Question 1

Plan of Qing Dynasty Beijing, 1644

Answer 1

• Axial planning
• Orientated north-south
• Runs from southern gate to northern drum tower (7.5 km)
• Centric (central) and concentric planning (onion)
• Forbidden city + palace at the centre
• Many local districts + separate cities (forbidden, imperial, capital, outer)
• COSMOLOGY - Emperor at the centre
  
  • People know place in relation to Emperor
  • Chinese Empire, centre of humanity
  • Emperor secures harmony between heaven + Earth

Question 2

Plan of Rome of Sixtus V,

c. 1590

Answer 2

• Dense in plan
• Intense spatial organisation
• Effected by topography - hills, rivers
• Marked by vertical accents of obelisks and Churches
• Emphasis on verticality
• Religion is visible and omnipresent
• **In Beijing, ruler is invisible but omnipresent

Question 3

Piazza San Pietro (St Peter’s Square)

Rome

Gianlorenzo Bernini

1656‐1667

Answer 3

• St Peter’s - became the seat of the Pope (after shift away from Avignon period)
• Pope = merging of political + papal power
• Had a UNITARY concept of the city
• Organised jubilee every 25 years - source of URBAN DEVELOPMENT
• Buildings built around St Peter’s
• Axial road leading to St Peter’s
  
  • Designed for pilgrimage (and growth) in mind
• MOVEMENT through the city important

Question 4

Comparing Rome and Beijing

Answer 4

• BEIJING very low rise
• Most important monuments (Hall of Supreme Harmony, City Tower) gentle in scale
• Horizontal profile (HOSH has almost stretched appearance)
• Beijing as planned, axial, city of cities
• Ruler in invisible but omnipresent
• ROME as city of MONUMENTS
• Organic, intense organisation
• Bottom-Up establishment of power
• Resounding sense of religious presence
• Axial vistas connect important monuments - MOVEMENT