Forbidden City in Beijing is was the royal palace of the 24 emperors of China. Today it is known as the ‘Palace Museum’. It is situated in the middle of Beijing from where the 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties ruled the country from the year 1420 to 1911 which is for almost 491 years. This conserved palace was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987.
It was constructed in between the years 1406 and 1420 by7 the third Ming emperor Yongley and shifted his capital from Nanjing to Beijing. The monarch rule was finished with the rule of the last Qing emperor Yu Chi. In 1924, a organization took over the Forbidden City and on 10th October, 1924, it was converted into the palace museum and opened for the public.
Spread over in 72 hectares of land, the whole city is made out of wood. It has got 90 palaces, more than 9,000 rooms and around 1,000 buildings. The whole city is surrounded by a 10 meter high wall. It has got a 6 meter deep and 52 meter wide rift surrounding it.
In the ancient times, the Chinese emperors were called the sons of heaven and so they were considered to be the most powerful people. Their Palaces on Earth were compared with those in heaven. Common men were not allowed inside the city and so it got its name, ‘Forbidden City’. Today it is considered a treasure of the glorious ancient past of China.
