Heian Jingu

To mark its 1,100th birthday, Kyoto built itself an enormous shrine, complete with a 24m-high vermillion gate and 33,000sq m of garden. The buildings and gardens were designed to evoke the Heian period (794-1185), when Kyoto’s aesthetic began to flourish. The main building is a scaled-down replica of the first Imperial Palace, and the gardens employ the lake-island-bridge style imported from China by Heian landscape designers. The stone pillars of the central garden once supported the original Sanjo and Gojo bridges. The shrine looks best during the New Year celebrations, when the grounds are full of kimono-clad ladies; in April when the cherry blossom works its magic; and on the 1st and 2nd June, when it hosts an outdoor Noh performance.