Kyôto City

京都市

Kyôto City, situated in a valley basin open to the south, was founded in 794 as Heian-kyô, “Capital of Peace” by emperor Kammu (737-806) – designed according to the Chinese model, in a chessboard pattern, as Heijô-kyô (710-794) – today´s Nara – had done before. The emperor’s palace, designed as a centre, remained the emperor’s residence for over 1000 years (until 1868) and the city developed into the most important cultural centre of Japan. Kyôto was (nearly) spared any bombing during the Second World War. The “Kyoto Protocol”, an international treaty that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, was adopted in Kyôto on December 1997.