The Temple of Emperors of the Past Dynasties is the place where the emperors of the Qing Dynasty worshiped their ancestors. Its political status was compared to the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Confucius Temple, and these three were collectively known as the three royal temples of Beijing in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The Temple of Emperors of the Past Dynasties, commonly known as the Imperial Temple, was founded in the ninth year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1530).

It was the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties sacrificed their ancestors, and its political status is in line with the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Confucius Temple, which are collectively known as the three royal temples in Beijing in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Chinese feudal rulers have had the habit of sacrificing ancestors since ancient times, and the Three Sovereigns have always been regarded as the ancestors of the Chinese and admired by emperors of all generations; the previous emperors are examples for future ones to learn from, so they should also be sacrificed.

Initially, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, determined that there were 18 emperors to be sacrificed; but after founding the capital in Beijing, the Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty scaled it up to 25. In the 380 years from the eleventh year of Ming Jiajing to the end of the Qing Dynasty, a total of 662 sacrifice ceremonies were held in the Imperial Temple.

Floor tiles here are specially fired for the royal family, which are commonly known as "gold bricks". Gold bricks touch as smooth as jade; when stepping on, one won’t feel slippery or hard-going, for their particles are delicate and dense-textured. The "gold bricks" used for this renovation were customized in the "Royal Kiln" in the city of Suzhou in southeast China then; its material selection, firing, and processing have strict processes. And these tiles must be soaked in tung oil and polished before laying.

A total of seven niches in the main hall enshrined the tablets of 188 Chinese emperors, the ones in the middle niche are the tablets of Fu Xi, the Yellow Emperor, and the Yan Emperor; among the six niches on the left and right, there are 185 imperial tablets of the Five Emperors and the other emperors of Xia, Shang, Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou Dynasties, the high Han, powerful Tang, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Jin, Song, Yuan, Ming, and other dynasties.

Address: No. 131 Fuchengmen Street, Beijing