Forbidden City Beijing

The Forbidden City is located in the middle of Beijing. Constructed in 1420, during the early Ming Dynasty, it is China's best-preserved imperial palace, and the largest ancient palace structure in the world.

As one of the five most important palaces in the world, the grand halls and walls proudly display the essence and culmination of traditional Chinese architecture, fitting for the capital city of the world’s largest nation. It is the 6th Largest imperial palace in the world. It’s located in the center of Beijing, north of Tiananmen Square.

The Forbidden City covers an area of about 72 hectares (180 acres) with a total floor space of approximately 150,000 square meters (1,600,000 square feet). It consists of more than 90 palaces and courtyards, 980 buildings and over 8,728 rooms. (A common myth states that there are 9,999.5 rooms, but it is not supported by survey evidence.)

The Forbidden City took 14 years to build (from 1406 to 1420). It was built by over 1,000,000 workers, including more than 100,000 craftsmen. It was the imperial palace of China for 492 years (1420–1912). It was the home of 24 emperors — 14 of the Ming dynasty and 10 of the Qing dynasty. In 1925, the Forbidden City became the Palace Museum. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

Ancient Chinese Astronomers believed that the Purple Star (Polaris) was in the centre of heaven and therefore the Heavenly Emperor lived in the Purple Palace. The Palace for the emperor on earth was called the Purple City. It was forbidden to enter the palace without special permission of the emperor. Hence its name 'The Purple Forbidden City', usually called 'The Forbidden City'. The palace is 960 meters from north to south and 750 meters from east to west, The Forbidden City is surrounded by a six meter deep, 52 meter wide moat. 

Most of the visitors enter the Forbidden City through Tian'anmen, ‘Gate of Heavenly Peace’. It hosts 14 million visitors per year, a maximum of 80,000 visitors per day.

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