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How to Visit Daming Palace National Heritage Park

Sunday, November 2nd, 2014

Planning your Xian tour? Basically you are going to visit some top attractions in Xian such as Terracotta Army, Muslim Quarters, Xian City Wall, Shaanxi Provincial Museum, Hanyang Tombs, etc. Here I’d like to recommend you an interesting site known as Daming Palace National Heritage Park.

Officially known as the Silk Road’s Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor, Silk Road in China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgizstan have been added the World Heritage list. The decision was announced at the 38th session of UNESCO’s World Heritage committee in Doha, Qatar on June 22, 2014. It consists of 33 newly designated sites in China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Daming Palace is one of the 33 newly designated places along the UNESCO Cultural Heritage site. Originally built in 634 AD, Daming Palace was the most splendid imperial palace in Tang Dynasty ( 618 -907), or even in the world. Totally there were 17 emperors who lived in the palace in Tang Dynasty.

The original Daming Palace takes an area of 350 hectares, 4.5 times Forbidden City in Beijing. The building and restoration of the Daming Palace took one year and open to the public on Oct 01, 2000.

Daming Palace was set along the central axis from south to north with three mains halls representing three courts, namely Hanyuan Hall (outer court and Danfeng Gate), the Xuanzheng Hall (middle court), and the Zichen Hall ( Inner Court).

Hanyuan hall served as the main hall for state ceremonies and hosting foreign ambassadors during diplomatic exchanges; Xuanzheng Hall was designated as the place for state affairs; Zichen Hall housed the central government offices.

The south gate known as Danfeng Gate sits on the southern tip on the north-south axis in the palace. The original Danfeng Gate was 200 meters from east to west, the largest gate in Tang Dynasty in terms of length, quality and standard.

How to get there?
1. It is just located 1.2 km north of Xian Railway Station. You may take bus 16 in the north direction and get off at the next stop.

2. It is about 5.9km north of Bell Tower. You can take the bus 16 and get off at the 16 the stop in the north direction.

Entrance fee: RMB 60
Electric car: RMB 30 ( optional )

Danfeng Gate

Danfeng Gate (South Gate)

Hanyuan Hall is situated 600m north of Danfeng Gate along the central axis. There was a holy leading from Danfeng Gate to Hanyuan Hall.

Hanyuan Hall is situated 600m north of Danfeng Gate

Standing on the terraces of Hanyuan Hall and have a better view of the surrounding and the square between the hall and Danfeng gate.

the square between the hall and Danfeng gate.

The remnants of the Hanyuan Hall

Standing on the remnants of and look at the Zichen Hall which lies about 95 meters north of Xuanzheng Hall.

Standing on the Hanyuan Hall

Tip: Hassle-free Xian Guided Tours
If you don’t want to go the do-it-yourself route and prefer the hassle-free escorted tours, here are some options for Xian guided tours:

Xian City Day Tour from US$69
Xian Terracotta Warriors Day Tour A from US$85
Terracotta Army and Song of Everlasting Performance from US$135

Xian 2 Day Tour Package from US$170 p/p
Xian 3 Day Tour Package from US$235 p/p