Dome

Distant context view, north end of Tiananmen Square, across Chang'an Avenue; The gate was originally named Chengtianmen (Gate of Accepting Heavenly Mandate), and it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. The original building was first constructed in 1420 and was based on a gate of an imperial building in Nanjing with the same name. Following the establishment of the Qing Dynasty and the Manchu conquest of China proper, the gate was once again rebuilt, beginning in 1645, and was given its present name in 1651. After the founding of the People's Republic, it is widely used as a national symbol. It is often referred to as the front entrance to the Forbidden City, however it is really the entrance to the Imperial City, within which the Forbidden City was located. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 5/16/2013)