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Home > Travel China > China Attractions > The Forbidden City of Beijing
The Forbidden City of Beijing
The Forbidden City, also known as the Museum of the Imperial Palace or the Imperial Palace is located in the center of Beijing. It was the power center of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) during a long period that lasted from 1420 to 1912.
This palace complex was named the “Forbidden City” because in the old times common people could not enter without special authorization and only courtiers could obtain an audience with the emperor. The Forbidden City was built between 1406 and 1420. Twenty-four emperors lived in the city until 1911, when the revolution that ousted the government of the last feudal dynasty of China, the Qing Dynasty, took place.
Each year, the magnificent architecture and the valuable artistic and cultural objects in the Forbidden City attract seven million visitors from all parts of the world. The Palace, with a rectangular shape, covers an area of 720,000 square meters and occupies a third of the central axis of 8 kilometers long that divided the ancient city of Beijing. The harmonious combination of the Palace constructions reflects the best characteristics of the Chinese architecture. With more than 9,000 rooms, the Forbidden City is the greatest and the best preserved of the imperial cities that currently exist in China.
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