Royal Ontario Museum has the largest collection of Chinese architectural artifacts outside of China.
China’s iconic architectural style is as old as the civilization itself. Throughout, connections and oppositions between Yang-houses (architecture for the living) and Yin-houses (architecture for the dead) intertwine through the Chinese concept of geomancy, or fengshui. Imperial buildings were distinct from those for common living; each planned, built and adorned in different ways to satisfy requirements for form, function and ritual.
China’s legacy of building and architecture is told through the largest and best collection of Chinese architectural artifacts outside of China. The mighty Ming Tomb, the Tombs of Han and Tang, and the reconstruction of a corner of a Chinese Imperial Palace building are focal points of a collection that includes architectural features, embellishments, statuary and more.
