Beijing Ancient Observatory

This guide to the Beijing Ancient Observatory traces a rooftop platform built in 1442, and the six ornate bronze instruments the Flemish Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest designed for the Qing court starting in 1669, armillary spheres, a quadrant and more, modeled on Tycho Brahe's astronomy but cast with coiling Chinese dragons. You'll hear how those very instruments became war trophies, hauled off by foreign soldiers after the Boxer uprising of 1900. Look closely at the dragons coiled around the rings as you walk the terrace.