The Forbidden City

The Palace Museum, also called the Forbidden City, is one of the Country's most important sights, for it is a symbol of traditional China and likewise the biggest and best preserved masterpiece of Classical architecture.

The Forbidden City was completed in 1420 during the Ming Dynasty. It was the home of 24 emperors of the Ming and Qin dynasties. Naturally it was the scene of many important events affecting the course of Chinese history,including political struggles and palace coups,some of them extremely tragic.

The Forbidden City occupies a total space of more than 720, 000 square metres. It is surrounded by a moat of 50m wide and a wall 10.4m high with watch towers at each of the corners.The building in this palace complex are measured in 9,999.5 bays.The surrounding palace walls are 10 metres high and have a total length of 3,400 metres,and are protected by a 52-metre-wide moat. The Forbidden City consists of two parts, the Outer Court and the Inner Court.The Outer Court centres around the Hall of Supreme Harmony,the Midway Hall of Harmony and the Hall of preserved Harmony,which are flanked by the hall of Literary Glory and the Hall of Military Prowess.The Inner Court centres around the Hall of Celestial Purity,the Hall of Union and Peace and the Hall of Terrestrial Transquility,which are flanked by the Six East Palaces and the Six West Palaces. The layout is orderly and symmetrical.