Day #2: Finding the Jesuits in Beijing (and a little bit of heaven)

Today was packed full of exploring the city and attempting to find the remnants of the Jesuits who came here centuries ago. Beijing is such a dense and busy city that finding anything is a challenge, especially when those places are the lesser visited tourist attractions.

We got soaked through looking for the Jesuit church when a monsoon-like rain storm happened and so were twice as excited to find the Church of Immaculate Conception pictured here:

*The Church of Immaculate Conception, Beijing*

The Church has Mass in Chinese but also in a variety of other languages for expats wishing to worship as well. Because of this, the Church is open for business most of the day with the Chinese Mass earlier followed by services in foreign languages.

The Chinese Millennium Monument was next on our list and thankfully the rain had stopped at this point! The Monument is an art gallery and museum containing a circular sculpture around the walls of a round room that depicts important figures from the last 5000 years of Chinese history.

*The Chinese Millennium Monument was built to celebrate individuals who significantly contributed to Chinese history.*

Only two westerners are included in the vast fresco, one of our Jesuits was there, Matteo Ricci, along with Marco Polo who was written about by Kircher.

*Marco Polo traveled to China along the Silk Road in the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368).*

Matteo Ricco was an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. He died in Beijing in 1610. — *Matteo Ricci was an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. He died in Beijing in 1610.*

The old observatory was built to learn about the stars and planets in 1442. Our Jesuits arrived here in the 1600s and brought with them many of the instruments that can still be found there today!

*Instruments in the observatory garden.*

*An ancient sundial from the observatory.*

*One of the pieces brought all the way from the Netherlands by the Jesuits.*

'Terry' and 'Toby,' a pair of budding astronomers and their teacher on a field trip to the observatory. — *‘Terry’ and ‘Toby,’ a pair of budding astronomers and their teacher on a field trip to the observatory.*

Today we found a small piece of heaven in the Temple of Heaven.

The view from the centre of the Temple of Heaven. — *The view from the center of the Temple of Heaven.*

Some of the beautiful statues seems all around Beijing's ancient architectural sights. — *Some of the beautiful statues seen all around Beijing’s ancient architectural sights.*