The Summer Palace was completed in 1764 at a cost of more than 4.8 million silver taels. It was first called Qingyiyuan, the Gardens of Clear Ripples. British and French forces sacked and burned it in December 1860. Empress Dowager Cixi ordered its reconstruction from 1884 to 1895, and it was renamed Yiheyuan in 1888. After the Boxer Rebellion damage of 1900, it was restored two years later.
The site covers 2.9 square kilometers (1.1 sq mi), three-quarters of it water. Kunming Lake is entirely man-made, and the excavated soil built Longevity Hill, about 200 feet (60 m) high. The Long Corridor runs 2,388 feet (728 m) and is painted with scenes from folktales and the Four Great Classical Novels. The Tower of Buddhist Incense stands 135 feet (41 m) tall, and the Seventeen-Arch Bridge is 490 feet (150 m) long.
UNESCO called it a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design in 1998. Tickets have been sold since 1914.
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