Mukden Palace (Shenyang Imperial Palace)

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Mukden Palace in Shenyang was the first imperial residence of the Manchu Qing dynasty, before its conquest of China. Nurhaci, who united the Jurchen tribes and founded the Later Jin state, made the city his capital and began the works in 1625; his son Hong Taiji completed them around 1636-1637, when he proclaimed the Qing dynasty. Modelled on the Forbidden City but on a much smaller scale, the palace covers about six hectares. It blends the Chinese palace tradition with Manchu and Tibetan elements: the octagonal Dazheng Hall, the oldest building, faces ten aligned pavilions used by the leaders of the Eight Banners, a layout with no equivalent in Beijing. After 1644, when the court moved to Beijing, Mukden became a secondary palace where Qing emperors stayed during their tours of the Northeast; Qianlong enlarged it in 1780. Turned into a museum in 1955, it was added in 2004 to the Forbidden City's World Heritage listing.