Drum Tower
★★★★
Historical SitesHistorical Architectures
No.1, Beijing West Road, Gulou District, Nanjing (west of Gulou Subway Station)
Description
The scale of its building is rare in China. It is divided into upper and lower floors. The lower floor is in the shape of an arched city tower without beams, and the upper floor is a four-slope roof with double eaves. The upstairs was originally the place where the Ming Dynasty greeted the king and concubine, received the edict and announced the time. The original two sides of the big drum, the twenty-four sides of the small drum and other musical instruments used for time-reporting and honor guards were all lost after the fall of the Ming Dynasty. The base of the building is the original building in the Ming Dynasty, and the building upstairs was rebuilt in the late Qing Dynasty. In 1685, a huge monument was built upstairs, and the Drum Tower was changed to a monument tower, but the locals still used to call it the Drum Tower.