The Temple of Heaven, built in the 15th century in Beijing, is a vast religious complex regularly visited by the Court of the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was occupied and largely destroyed by the Western nations during the Second Opium War (1856-1860) and the Boxer Rebellion (1900). The fragments, collected in 1875, are mixed with the debris and ashes of a ceremonial sacrifice made by the Tongzhi Emperor, one of the last religious attempts to restore Chinese authority in the face of colonization. D. Kunik/MEG