Corner Towers (Jiao Lou)
At each of the four corners of the Forbidden City is an exquisite corner tower. Standing atop the city wall, the towers, along with their reflections in the moat, have become one of the iconic images of the Forbidden City.
The corner towers were renovated several times during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The main body is a pavilion-style building, with a harmonious, multi-layered outline. They feature vertical and horizontal intersecting hip-and-gable roofs with triple eaves, covered with yellow glazed tiles and culminating in a gilt copper pinnacle.
Their architectural structure is complex and exquisite, composed of a variety of roof ridges, beams, and columns. Each employs as many as 56 corner beams alone. In the construction process, a variety of wood structure techniques were flexibly used, making them masterpieces in ancient Chinese architecture.
As watchtowers for defense purposes, the corner towers, alongside the city wall, gate towers, and moat, formed the defense system of the Forbidden City, guarding the former imperial palace for hundreds of years.
They inherited flexible and varied traditional techniques for wooden buildings in China, and perfectly combined functions and decorative effects, demonstrating superb skills and outstanding talent of ancient Chinese craftsmen.
角楼
紫禁城城墙的四个拐角，各矗立着一座精美绝伦的角楼。它们坐落于城墙上，优雅身姿倒映于护城河的波光之中，是紫禁城极具标志性的景观之一。
角楼明清多次修缮。主体为亭式建筑，整体轮廓和谐，层次丰富。屋顶为三重檐，由纵横相交的歇山顶构成，上覆黄琉璃瓦，顶部中间置铜鎏金宝顶。角楼的建筑结构复杂而精妙，由多种脊、梁、柱构成，实则仅翼角用梁就多达56根。其建造过程更是灵活使用了多种木结构工艺，为中国古代营造技艺之大成。
角楼作为瞭望警戒的城防设施，与城垣、城门楼和护城河共同构成紫禁城防御体系，守卫紫禁城数百年。它们继承了我国古代木构建筑灵活多变的传统作法，使用功能和装饰效果得以巧妙地结合，展现出我国古代匠师们的高超技艺和卓越才能。
