The Ancient Observatory

On the roof of the Ancient Observatory

I don't know if you know this, but I like off-beat tourist attractions.  I like -- what's the opposite of "offbeat"? -- "on beat" tourist attractions, too.  I loved exploring the nooks and crannies (and yes there were crannies) of the Forbidden City as much as any Turista Americano with a camera around his neck.  I loved exploring them to the point we exhausted our professional guide.  But we stumped our guide when I asked to include the Ancient Observatory on the itinerary.

And here we are at the walls of the Ancient Observatory. Fortress-like, no?  Impenetrable like the Forbbiden City, no?

The ticket line was a little smaller than the Forbidden City:

The Ancient Observatory did have the obligatory guard cat.  "No visitors" said the sign.  No visitors?  How can we explore.

Oh we wait for the guard cat to go off duty.

There were multiple of these gape-mouthed lion-frog-dragon hybrids guarding the place even with the guard cat going off duty:

There were busts of prestigious astronomers of the past:

A peaceful courtyard:

And this!  A stardial!  You can have you sundials, but this was an honest-goodness working stardial.  Well, it wasn't working right then, given that it was daylight.

The Chinese moondial was off duty, too:

Whatever this was used for must have been spectacular.  Look at it!

The exhibits inside were just as awesome:

That is a Steelyard Clepsydra, invented by Li Lan of the Northern Wei Dynasty.  But you knew that.  The Steelyard Clepsydra is more accurate than other clepsydra, at least according to the placard.

Back outside where my photographs aren't so blurry:

Yes, this is indeed a Simplified Armilla.  Triple bonus points for all who guessed that one correctly.

Back inside the exhibit hall for more exhibits:

That is an ancient seismograph, or sorts.  The water spillage measures earthquake intensity.

And you recognize this cute little gape-mouthed lion-frog-dragon hybrid:

Now it's time to walk to the top of the Observatory and see the really cool instruments:

The Equatorial Armilla!

The Sextant!

The Azimuth Theodolite!  (Yes, these are their real names.)

Celestial Globe!  (Duh!)

The Altazimuth!

The Ecliptic Armilla!

Whew.  Our guide was apparently stunned that I found all of this legitimately fascinating.  And I did!  Anyway, for her sake, it was time to descend from the heights of the Observatory:

And into a garden of more astronomical instruments:

And more busts of astronomers past:

This was off-the-well-trod path tourism at its finest.