Old Summer Palace Scale Model / 圆明园 / 圓明園 (Slideshow)

The Old Summer Palace, known in Chinese as Yuanming Yuan / 圆明园; 圓明園 ("Gardens of Perfect Brightness"), and originally called the Imperial Gardens / 御园; 御園, was a complex of palaces and gardens in present-day Haidian District, Beijing, China. It is located 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) northwest of the walls of the former Imperial City section of Beijing. Constructed throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Old Summer Palace was the main imperial residence of Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty and his successors, and where they handled state affairs; the Forbidden City was used for formal ceremonies. Widely conceived as the pinnacle work of Chinese imperial garden and palace design, the Old Summer Palace was an architectural wonder, known for its extensive collection of garden, its building architecture and numerous art and historical treasures. It was reputed as the "Garden of Gardens" / 万园之园; 萬園之園 in its heyday.

In 1860, during the Second Opium War, as the Anglo-French expedition force relentlessly approached Beijing, two British envoys, a journalist for The Times and a small escort of British and Indian troopers were sent to meet Prince Yi under a flag of truce to negotiate a Qing surrender. Meanwhile, the French and British troops reached the palace and conducted extensive looting and destruction. Later on, as news emerged that the negotiation delegation had been imprisoned and tortured, resulting in 20 deaths, the British High Commissioner to China, Lord Elgin, retaliated by ordering the complete destruction of the palace, which was then carried out by British troops.

The Imperial Gardens at the Old Summer Palace were made up of three gardens:

1) Garden of Perfect Brightness proper / 圆明园; 圓明園
2) Garden of Eternal Spring / 长春园; 長春園
3) Elegant Spring Garden / 绮春园; 綺春園

Together, they covered an area of 3.5 square kilometres (860 acres), almost five times the size of the Forbidden City grounds and eight times the size of the Vatican City. Hundreds of structures, such as halls, pavilions, temples, galleries, gardens, lakes and bridges, stood on the grounds.

The most visible architectural remains of the Old Summer Palace can be found in the Western mansions (Xiyang Lou) section of 18th century European-style palaces, fountains and formal gardens. These structures, built partly of stone but mainly with a Chinese infrastructure of timber columns, coloured tiles and brick walls, were planned and designed by the Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione with Michel Benoist responsible for the fountains and waterwork. Qianlong Emperor became interested in the architectural project after seeing an engraving of a European fountain, and employed Castiglione and Benoist to carry out the work to satisfy his taste for exotic buildings and objects.

Western-style palaces, pavilion, aviaries, a maze, fountains, basins, and waterworks as well as perspective paintings organized as an outdoor theatre stage were constructed. A striking clock fountain was placed in front of the largest palace, the Haiyan Tang. The fountain had twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac that spouted water in turn every 2 hours, but all spouting water in concert at noon. These European-style buildings however only occupied an area along the back of the Garden of Eternal Spring that was small compared to the overall area of the gardens. More than 95% of the Imperial Gardens were made up of Chinese-style buildings. There were also a few buildings in Tibetan and Mongol styles, reflecting the diversity of the Qing Empire.