The Temple of Confucius at Beijing is the second largest Confucian Temple in China after the one in Confucius' hometown of Qufu, Shandong Province. It was built in 1302, and imperial officials used it to pay their respects to Confucius (551 - 479BC), the greatest thinker, educationist and founder of Confucianism. The compound was enlarged twice, during the Ming and Qing dynasties and now occupies some 22,000 square meters. From 1981 until 2005, the Temple of Confucius also housed part of the art collection of the Capital Museum. It stands on Guozijian Street connects to the Imperial Academy. The complex includes four courtyards aligned along a central axis. From south to north, noteworthy structures includes: the Xianshi Gate (Gate of the Sage Master), Dacheng Gate (Gate of Great Accomplishment), Dacheng Hall (Hall of Great Accomplishment) and Chongshengci (Shrine of the Great Sage). Dacheng Hall is the main building in the temple, where the memorial ceremony for Confucius was held. There is a broad yard in front of the Dacheng Hall, with straight paved path and 11 merits recording pavilions on both sides. Dacheng Hall has a double-eave roof covered with yellow glazed tiles. Inside the hall, the tablet of Confucius is put in the middle flanked by tablets of his four main disciples and 12 renowned Confucian scholars of successive dynasties. Inside the temple there are 198 stone tablets positioned on either side of the front courtyard, and they contains more than 51,624 names of Jinshi (the advanced scholars) of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and 14 stone stele pavilions of the Ming and Qing dynasties that hold the precious historical information of ancient China. The temple also contains stone tablets recording the names of many generations of scholars who passed the Imperial Examination, a reproduction of a Western Zhou period stone drum made during the reign of Qianlong (1735-96), and 189 stone steles containing the Thirteen Confucian Classics, presented by the city of Jintan in Jiangsu Province.