Chinese Imperial Palace Hall – Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario

This full-scale reconstruction represents the corner of a large palace hall in the imperial style of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). The complete building would be five bays (spaces between two columns) wide and four bays deep, or about 28 by 16 metres, with a height of 11 metres. All parts were custom-made in China and shipped to Toronto. A team of ten Chinese artisans from the National Museum of Chinese Architecture in Beijing assembled and painted the building at the ROM from September to November 2005. Only traditional Chinese materials and building techniques were used. The bracket clusters (dougong) under the eaves, the glazed ornamental tiles, and the rich painting and gilding on the wooden parts are all characteristic of Chinese palace and temple architecture.