Beijing Ancient Observatory (section 4 of in the footsteps of the CICM Missionaries)

Our next visit was the Beijing Ancient Observatory in which Ferdinand Verbiest played an essential role.

Vranckx wrote :

« Nous ne manquâmes pas de monter au fameux observatoire construit par les mêmes Pères. Tous les instruments, placés sur une plateforme en plein air, sont en bronze et coulés avec un soin particulier. Nous avons surtout admiré, entre autres, une immense sphère céleste mobile, sur laquelle toutes les constellations sont gravées en relief et un sextant d’une hauteur prodigieuse, au haut duquel on parvient par un marchepied en bronze glissant sur les rails autour de l’instrument. Ce qui frappe surtout c’est la remarquable beauté des ornements en bronze qui supportent les divers instruments. Nous avons vu la des dragons, des lions et autres emblèmes qui sont de véritables chefs-d’œuvre. »[1]

The Beijing Ancient Observatory[2]  is one of the oldest existing observatories in the world built in 1442 during the Ming dynasty. The observatory was used during the Ming and Qing dynasty to observe the movements of celestial bodies. Since it was believed that the Emperor held a Mandate of Heaven it was important to follow and predict any movement of these celestial bodies. Ferdinand Verbiest became in charge of the observatory in 1673 and designed new instruments for the observations of the moon, stars and planets. He developed in particular for the observatory:

an Equatorial armilla for determining the true solar time as well as the positions of celestial bodies and the ecliptic,

an astronomical sextant for measuring the angular position of stars, an altazimuth for measuring the azimuth of celestial bodies,

an ecliptic armilla for determining the coordinates of celestial bodies ,a celestial globe Celestial globes for the apparent positions of the stars in the sky,

a quadrant for measuring altitudes and zenith locations of celestial bodies.  In 1715 an azimuth theodolite was added for measuring the altitude of celestial bodies1744 a new armilla was built by Ferdinand Augustin Haller von Hallerstein[3]  and which was considered as one of the best instruments at that time.

[1] Supra 2 page 42

[2] 北京古观象台Běijīng Gǔ Guānxiàngtái

[3] Slovenia Mengeš 27 August 1703 – China Beijing 29 October 1774), also known as August
Allerstein. Chinese name 刘松龄;  Liú Sōnglíng