City wall of Xi'an

The City Wall of Xi'an is one of oldest existing Chinese city wall. It is based in Xi'an, an ancient capital of China.

[edit] History

敌楼

瓮城

194 BCE: Construction of the first city wall of Chang'an began, which did not finish until 190 BCE. The wall measured 25.7 km in length, 12-16 m in thickness at the base. The area within the wall was ca. 36 km².
1370: Ming Dynasty built a new wall to protect a much smaller city of 12 km². The wall measures 11.9 km in circumference, 12 m in height, and 15-18 m in thickness at the base.