Facts about Ming Tombs
- 10
Visitors to the Ming Tombs can tour the underground palace of Changling, where intricate brick carvings and red lacquer decorations still adorn the burial chamber walls after more than 600 years.
- 09
Seventy-two stone columns support the underground palace chamber at Changling, each carved from single marble blocks to bear the weight of the massive brick vault roof overhead.
- 08
Zhaoling Tomb, built for Emperor Hongwu's son in 1409, features a unique dual-chamber design with separate burial vaults for the emperor and empress positioned side-by-side rather than stacked vertically.
- 07
A massive marble gateway called the Dragon and Phoenix Gate marks the southern entrance to the Ming Tombs complex near Beijing.
- 06
Over 3,500 artifacts including gold vessels, jade carvings, and imperial seals were discovered during the 1956-1958 excavations of the Ming Tombs near Beijing.
- 05
In 1958, archaeologists excavated the tomb of Emperor Jiajing and discovered it had been ransacked by Li Zicheng's rebel forces during the late Ming Dynasty collapse in 1644.
- 04
Emperor Wanli's tomb, discovered in 1956, revealed three wooden coffins containing the remains of the emperor and his two empresses, along with over 3,000 grave goods including silk robes and porcelain vessels.
- 03
Changling, the largest Ming Tomb, covers 91.5 hectares and contains a subterranean palace with brick vaults 7 meters underground where Emperor Yongle was entombed.
- 02
The Sacred Way approach to the Ming Tombs stretches 4 kilometers and is lined with 24 stone statues of animals and officials guarding the imperial burial grounds.
- 01
Thirteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty were buried at this necropolis near Beijing between 1409 and 1644.