Established in 1925, the Palace Museum was installed in the imperial palace of two consecutive dynasties - the Ming (1368-1644) and the Qing (1644-1911). The magnificent architecture, also known as the Forbidden City, and the vast holding of the imperial collections of paintings, calligraphy, ceramics, and decorative objects make it one of the most prestigious museums in China and the world at large. In 1961 the Palace Museum was designated by the State Council as one of China's foremost-protected cultural heritage sites, and in 1987 was made a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Location, Area, and Layout
Situated at the heart of Beijing, the Palace Museum is approached through the Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tian'an men). Immediately to the north of the Palace Museum is Prospect Hill (also called Coal Hill), while on the east and west are Wangfujing and Zhongnanhai neighborhoods. The location was endowed with cosmic significance by ancient China's astronomers. They correlated the emperor's abode, which they considered the pivot of the terrestrial world, with the Pole Star (Ziwei yuan), which they believed to be at the center of the heavens. Because of its centrality as well as restricted access, the palace was called The Forbidden City. It was built from 1406 to 1420 by the third emperor of the Ming dynasty, the Yongle Emperor (r. 1403-1420) who, upon usurping the throne, determined to move his capital northward from Nanjing to Beijing. The Ming dynasty fell to the Manchu Qing in 1644 and in 1911 the Qing dynasty was overthrown by the republican revolutionaries. The last emperor Puyi (ruled from 1909 to 1911 under the reign name Xuantong) continued to live in the palace after his abdication until he was expelled in 1924. During nearly six hundred years, twenty-four emperors lived and ruled from this palace.
The Forbidden City is surrounded by 10-metre-high walls and a 52-metre-wide moat. Measuring 961 meters from north to south and 753 meters from east to west, it covers an area of 720,000 square meters. Each of the four sides is pierced by a gate: the Meridian Gate (Wu men) on the south, the Gate of Divine Prowess (Shenwu men) on the north, the Eastern and Western Prosperity Gates (Donghuamen and Xihuamen). Once inside, visitors will see a succession of halls and palaces spreading out on either side of an invisible central axis. The buildings' glowing yellow roofs levitating above vermilion walls is a magnificent sight. The painted ridges and carved beams all contribute to the sumptuous effect.
Known as the Outer Court, the southern portion of the Forbidden City centers on three main halls - Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihe dian), Hall of Central Harmony (Zhonghe dian), and Hall of Preserving Harmony (Baohe dian) - with Belvedere of Embodying Benevolence (Tiren ge) and Belvedere of Spreading Righteousness (Hongyi ge) flanking them. It was here in the Ourter Court that the emperor held court and conducted grand audiences.
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