Beijing – Two towers, Drum Tower and Bell Tower

Contrary to the title, we will not be writing about anything related to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Trilogy. Beijing has its two towers, and these are the ones we will focus on: Drum Tower and Bell Tower.

Bell Tower and Drum Tower are the two structures we left for ourselves at the end of a rather active day in downtown Beijing. About what we saw in the area on the same day we described in detail here: temples and hutongs.

Initially, we did not plan to go to the two towers on the same day, as we thought the plan for the day was very ambitious anyway. However, we were already so close, we still had a reserve of strength, so we decided to still go in their direction.

The Drum Tower and the Bell Tower stand opposite each other, about 100 meters apart, and between them is a small square where Chinese people spend their free time playing, having fun and dancing to music played on loudspeakers.

Please define valid width and height attributes for remote images.

This square was simply alive. At first we were very fascinated by the fact that in Beijing people dance in the streets to some non-Chinese traditional music. Many times we saw elegantly dressed couples practicing ballroom dances, to the sound of salsa or waltz, we saw young and old, professionals and amateurs.

However, let’s go back to the aforementioned towers. What was the purpose of these structures? They were used to strike the current time and to warn residents of dangers. Thanks to the towers, Beijing residents were better able to know what time it was, and could plan their work at a time when there were no other publicly available forms of timekeeping.

When we stood in the middle of the square, the drum tower was definitely more impressive – a large, monumental tower, painted red with numerous decorative elements in shades of green and zł. This building has two floors and measures almost 47 meters high.

The bell tower is more modest, made of gray stone, also decorated no less, but remains in the shadow of the first. Its height is almost 48 meters, so it is minimally taller, but it gives the impression of being smaller, more austere.

Both towers can be climbed to enjoy the nearby panorama. Here, among other things, you can take a look at the hutongs we have already visited.

It’s especially recommended to hit the tower tours at a time when the drums and bells are going off. The Drum Tower features drums that are reproductions of the original Ming Dynasty drums. Originally there was one large drum and 24 smaller ones.

Meanwhile, the Bell Tower houses a 600-year-old, 63-ton bell (the largest and oldest in all of China). It is impressive! :)

We were very interested in the towers, especially their original purpose (which, in a way, did not fit in our heads, because how is such a single bell, a clock, for the whole city?!?) and very impressed by the two structures themselves.

The big impression diminished when we went to Xi’an and saw the towers there ;) But about that soon…. :)