Old Summer Palace

The Old Summer Palace, known in Chinese as Yuanmingyuan, was looted and largely destroyed by Anglo-French forces in 1860 during the Second Opium War. The destruction was ordered by Lord Elgin as retaliation for the imprisonment and torture of British and French negotiators. Today, the ruins remain as a memorial site and a symbol of China's century of humiliation.

The complex was constructed primarily throughout the 18th century during the Qing dynasty, beginning under the Kangxi Emperor and expanding significantly under the Qianlong Emperor. It was not a single building but a vast estate of palaces, gardens, lakes, and pavilions covering hundreds of acres. The Qianlong Emperor also commissioned European-style palaces designed by Jesuit missionary Giuseppe Castiglione.

Yes, the site is now a public park known as Yuanmingyuan Park in Beijing, and visitors can walk among the surviving ruins. The most famous remaining structures are the European-style stone facades designed by Castiglione, which have become iconic. The park also includes restored lakes and gardens that give a sense of the original layout.

The Old Summer Palace was significantly larger than the Forbidden City and was sometimes referred to as the Versailles of China by European visitors. It consisted of three main garden areas: Yuanmingyuan, Changchunyuan, and Qichunyuan. At its peak, it contained hundreds of buildings, artificial lakes, and an enormous collection of art and antiquities.