Photography Inner City from the Drum Tower Towards Meishan Hill

A black-and-white photograph: panoramic view of one of the three parts of imperial Beijing, known as the Inner City (Neicheng 内城). It was located in the northern part of Beijing and surrounded the famous Forbidden City (Gugong 故宫 or Zijincheng 紫禁城). Parts of the city were separated by walls. It shows part of the Inner City between the Drum Tower and Mei Hill (Meishan 藝山) or Coal Hill. The wider area around Mei Hill is now called Jingshan Park (Jingshan Gongyuan 景山公園).

The photograph is the third of 449 photographs of Beijing and its surroundings in the album of Ivan Skušek Jr., purchased during his stay in Beijing (1914–1920). In the handwritten inventory of the album, the photograph is referred to as Tatarenstadt vom Trommelturm gegen Kohlenhügel. (DZ)

Information
Object history

Place of manufacture: Beijing

Manufacturing technique: black-and-white photograph

Dimensions: length: 13.5 cm, width: 8.6 cm

No. of parts: 1

Current owner: Slovene Ethnographic Museum

Date of the last acquisition: 1963

Previous owners and periods of ownership: Ivan Skušek, Jr. and Tsuneko Kondō Kawase - Marija Skušek, National Museum of Slovenia, Slovene Ethnographic Museum

Object condition, handling and damage: blue discolouration of black colour

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