The Long Corridor was first built in 1750, when the Qianlong Emperor commissioned work to convert the area into an imperial garden. The corridor was constructed so that the emperor's mother could enjoy a walk through the gardens protected from the elements. Like most of the Summer Palace, the Long Corridor was severely damaged by fire which Anglo-French allied forces laid in 1860 during the Second Opium War. The Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) was originally created during the Ming Dynasty, but was designed in its current form by Qing emperor Qianlong (r. 1736 - 1795). It is however Qianlongs mother, the Qing Dowager Empress Cixi who is most irrevocably linked to the palace, since she had it restored twice during her reign, once in 1860 after it was plundered by British and French troops during the Second Opium War, and again in 1902 when foreign troops sought reprisals for the Boxer Rebellion, an anti-Christian movement.