The Wuyue Suburban Altar, also known as the Worshipping Suburban Altar or the Ascending Cloud Terrace, was constructed in the first year of the Longde era of the Later Liang Dynasty (921 AD), and served as the site where King Qian Liu of Wuyue offered sacrifices to heaven. The existing ruins are roughly divided into two levels, covering an area of approximately 2000 square meters. The two platforms are connected by dozens of steps, with the central mountain body paved with neatly arranged large rectangular stone blocks, showing clear signs of artificial construction.
On the two platforms, there are numerous historical relics from various dynasties, such as the Linghua Cave, Ascending Cloud Cave, ‘Zhu Tian Temple Cave’, Ganlu Well, Noon Dream Bed, and nearly ten cliff inscriptions. Among them, the inscription carved by King Qian Liu for the construction of the suburban altar reads in full: “In the first year of the Longde era of the Liang Dynasty, in the year of Xinsi, on the first day of the Renwu month, the Supreme Commander of the World, King Qian Liu of Wuyue, established this.” The inscription consists of 29 characters, arranged in four vertical columns with approximately 7 characters per column, each character measuring 9 centimeters in diameter, with neat calligraphy and fine carving.
The discovery of this inscription corroborates the records about the Wuyue Suburban Altar found in historical documents such as “Chunyou Lin’an Records”, “West Lake Travel Records”, “Fangyu Shenglan”, and “Two Zhe Jinshi Records”.The Wuyue Suburban Altar site provides rare physical historical materials for the study of the historical development of the Wuyue Kingdom and its suburban sacrificial rituals. It also offers clues for determining the location of the Southern Song Dynasty’s suburban altar. The site is open all year round from 06:30 to 17:00.
