A few days ago, a plan for the protection of the Central Axis of Beijing was published in connection with the application for inclusion of the Central Axis of the city in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List.
The plan, designed for the period from 2022 to 2035, defined for the first time a zone of heritage sites and a buffer zone within the Central Axis.
According to the plan, the total area of the heritage zone is about 5.9 square kilometers, and it includes 15 constituent elements, such as the Forbidden City /Gugun Museum/ and the Temple of Heaven. The buffer zone covers an area of 45.4 square kilometers.
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- Храм Неба
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- Вид с птичьего полета на Центральную ось
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- Барабанная башня
The responsible officer of the local service for the Protection of Cultural Monuments said that this plan is necessary for Beijing to submit an application for the inclusion of the city’s Central Axis in the list of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites. This plan marks a new step in the Chinese capital’s work to protect cultural heritage.
The central axis of Beijing, or Zhongzhouxian, was created during the reign of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). It is a conditional line with a length of 7.8 km and runs from the Yongdingmen Gate in the south of the city and to Zhonggulou (Bell and Drum Towers) in the north. Most of the main ancient buildings of Beijing are located along this axis.
The Beijing government began preparations for the inclusion of the Central Axis project in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List in 2011. In 2012, it was included in the Chinese tentative list of World Cultural Heritage.
Source: Xinhua
