Submitted by Antonio Farto
Summer Palace
Haidian, Beijing, China
Category: Monuments
The Palace is now a large park of almost 300 hectares on the banks of Kunming Lake and contains a number of buildings. It was originally built in 1750 by the Qianlong Emperor. The lake is artificial. In 1860, during the Second Opium War, the original Summer Palace was almost completely destroyed by Franco-British forces. Part of the old palace was restored and embellished by Empress Cixi in 1899. The Empress used it as her temporary summer residence from 1901 onwards and it was also the seat of government until 1908.
