Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum (中山陵) is the most visited site on Purple Mountain. Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Chinese Republic, died in 1925 and requested burial in Nanjing. The mausoleum was completed in 1929 in a design blending traditional Chinese palace architecture with Western monumental forms. A long marble ceremonial way leads from the ceremonial gateway through blue-roofed memorial archways to the white marble hall at the summit.
The main hall contains a white marble statue of Sun seated, with a reclined effigy of him in black marble in the burial chamber below. The setting — forest, hill, sky — is as important as the architecture. Come in late afternoon when the tour groups thin out, or on a weekday. The nearby Ming Xiaoling Tombs, Linggu Temple, and Purple Mountain cable car are all within walking distance.