Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum

The Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum stands on the southern slope of Purple Mountain (Zijin Shan) in Xuanwu District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, and honours the leader of the 1911 Revolution who died in Beijing in March 1925. Sun had asked to be buried near Nanjing, where he was sworn in as provisional president of the Republic of China on 1 January 1912. An open design competition in 1925 was won by the young architect Lu Yanzhi, and construction ran from 1926 to 1929. Lu died in 1929 before the work was fully complete, and Sun's remains were ceremonially interred on 1 June 1929 after a state funeral procession from Beijing.

The complex climbs the hillside along a single axis of 392 granite steps rising through eight terraces. Visitors pass the Memorial Archway, the Tomb Gate, the Stele Pavilion, which holds an inscription reading 'Tomb of Dr Sun Yat-sen', and the Sacrificial Hall. Inside the hall sits a white marble statue of Sun, carved by the French sculptor Paul Landowski, while the rear chamber contains a recumbent marble statue above the burial vault. The blue glazed roof tiles and white stone are a deliberate reference to the blue sky and white sun of the Kuomintang flag. The architecture blends traditional Chinese timber-frame forms with modern materials such as reinforced concrete, an approach typical of Republican-era national-style building.

The curatorial approach is commemorative rather than museum-style: the experience is a processional ascent with little interpretive text inside the halls. The site has been maintained continuously as a state monument, and it stayed a place of public homage through the Second Sino-Japanese War, the civil war, and after 1949. The surrounding Zhongshan Scenic Area also contains the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, Linggu Temple and the Music Stage, so the mausoleum is often combined with these sites in a single day. Entry is free, but advance real-name reservation with a passport is required for foreign visitors, and visitors are asked to dress and behave respectfully, particularly inside the Sacrificial Hall where photography restrictions may apply.