Dear Steemit Friends:
Today, I'm taking everyone to Xi'an's City Wall, and also on a trip through time. What historical relics shall we discover and what mysteries shall we unveil ?
The City Wall of Xi'an was built in the Ming dynasty under the rule of Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and was a full military fortification for the purpose of defending the city within. It is the oldest, most complete Chinese city wall in China today.
At the center of the inner city, you'll find the famous clock and drum towers.
The wall encloses an area of around 14 square miles and is rectangular in shape. The area inside the wall is now called the ancient city district.
The wall itself is around 12 meters in height, and 12-14 meters wide at the top, and 15-18 meters wide at the base. This means the wall is actually wider than it is tall making it very sturdy.
The walkway is wide enough for people ride bikes along it. Usually a full walk around the walkway would take four hours.
Below are the shots from this visit. While i'm not a professional photographer, I still really enjoy taking pictures and I hope I am able to capture the beauty of the buildings and architecture in my pictures for all to see.
There are four main gates and at each of these gates there is a gate tower which has now become the main entrances and exits to the inner city. In the picture, behind me you can see the drawbridge at the main gate. Because the city wall was built with a moat, the drawbridge used to serve as the only way to enter in and out of the city.
These stone carved sculptures on the roofs represent the history of these buildings and are also the artistic garnishes of the architecture of the time. It shows the importance of these totems to our ancestors.
This is the city gate tower, it was built in the Ming Qing dynasties. There are four of these city gate towers in total, one on each side of the wall. Each of these towers have two levels and three roof hinges. They were originally used as defensive outposts.At dusk, the buildings seem to have draped a grey silver cover over them.
All along the walls, there are these posts with Chinese red flags and lanterns swaying in the wind。
The details on the towers are so intricate!
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This is the archer tower, it's used as a watch tower and also a defensive outpost for archers. It's built between the city gate towers and the drawbridge tower. The sides of the archer tower are quite a bit higher than the actual wall and have some wall cutouts to allow archers to shoot arrows from a higher position.
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These are the small tower outposts, equally intricate in terms of decoration.
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If you look at the tower in the picture below, on the second floor, there is a vague outline of a figure like from a shadow play. This is why legend calls these towers, the ghost towers or fantasy towers. The onlookers will see ghosts from their own imagination.
This is an ancient stone sundial which was used to tell the time by the phases of the sun.
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Hope you like my photography work! Don't forget to let me know which tower / gate / building you like the most!
今天我想带你们走进西安城墙去探访一下最古老神秘的景色。明代建成的西安城墙是是中国现存规模最大、保存最完整的古代城垣。西安明城墙是封闭的长方形，位于西安市中心区，墙高18米，顶宽12—14米，底宽15—18米，周长13.74公里。城墙内被称为古城区，有11.32平方公里，著名的西安钟鼓楼就位于古城区中心。城墙完全围绕“防御”战略体系，而且城墙的厚度大于高度，稳固如山，墙顶可以跑车和操练。城墙一共有4个门，每个城门都由箭楼和城楼组成。照片上我身后的城楼是控制着入城必经之路的楼，叫做闸楼，因护城的“闸门”吊桥而得名。下面是我的一些摄影作品，因为我不是专业的摄影师，但是我希望把这些建筑的魅力分享给大家，希望你们喜欢！这些石雕是屋檐之上的历史，也是建筑上的艺术，描绘出祖先们对图腾的崇拜！这个是城楼，明清西安城的四座城门上，均建有一座二层三重檐的城门楼，因为建在主体城墙城门上，所以叫做四门城楼。黄昏时的城墙披上灰色的纱衣！城墙之上到处摇曳的中国红旗和灯笼。城楼的细节！下面这个是箭楼，用于远望、射箭的城楼。箭楼位于闸楼和城楼中间。箭楼外侧高于城墙，檐墙上设有密集的箭窗，用于防守反击。希望你们喜欢我的摄影作品，别忘了告诉我你最喜欢哪一座城楼！