Photography Ruins of the Front façade of the theatre in the Old Summer Palace
Photography Ruins of the Front façade of the theatre in the Old Summer Palace
CC BY-SA 4.0
A black-and-white photograph showing a front view of the ruins of a theatre in the area of the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan 圓明園) in Beijing called the “European Pavilions” (Xiyanglou 西洋楼). It was designed and built by the Jesuits in the European Baroque style, and the Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766) oversaw its construction. The pavilions, along with the rest of the Summer Palace, were destroyed by English and French troops in 1860 during the Second Opium War.
The photograph is the 343rd 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 Yüen-Ming-Yüen: Ruinen des Theaters. (DZ, MV)
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