Temple of Heaven

English

Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the largest building in the Temple of Heaven.

The Circular Mound Altar, the actual altar to Heaven on the grounds, in 1905.

Etymology

Calque of Chinese 天壇／天坛 (Tiāntán, literally “Altar of Heaven”).

Proper noun

the Temple of Heaven

1. A religious complex in southeastern Beijing, formerly important to Chinese imperial rituals; the present-day park surrounding and preserving the site.
   • 2022 January 21, Chris Mundy, Ozark, 00:41:05:

     Jonah Byrde: Y'know, in third grade, we learned about the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. There are like 600 acres and on the grounds there's this building called the Hall for Prayer for Good Harvests. It's circled by this thing called the Echo Wall.
     Wendy Byrde: Ok, ok.
     Jonah Byrde: You can go there and even when people are whispering you just hear the same things repeated over and over and over.
     Wendy Byrde: Ok, enough. You wanna be a smartass? You want to hate me? Fine.

2. (proscribed) The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the largest building in the complex, commonly confused as its focus.

Synonyms

• Altar of Heaven, Tiantan, Tien-tan, T'ien-t'an, Tian Tan

Coordinate terms

• Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Moon, Temple of the Earth

Translations

religious complex in Beijing

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 天壇／天坛 (zh) (Tiāntán)

• Finnish: Taivaan temppeli
• French: Temple du ciel m
• German: Himmelstempel m
• Japanese: 天壇 (てんだん, tendan)
• Korean: 천단(天壇) (cheondan)
• Portuguese: Templo do Céu m
• Russian: Храм Не́ба m (Xram Néba), Тяньта́нь m (Tjanʹtánʹ)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: Thiên Đàn (天壇)