Forbidden City

The Forbidden City (Chinese: 紫禁城; pinyin: Zǐjìnchéng) is the imperial palace complex in the center of the Imperial City in Beijing, China. It was the residence of 24 Ming and Qing dynasty Emperors, and the center of political power in China for over 500 years from 1420 to 1924. The palace is now administered by the Palace Museum and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. The Forbidden City is one of the most famous palaces in all of Chinese history, and is the largest preserved royal palace complex still standing in the world.

The Forbidden City was constructed from 1406 to 1420, and was the imperial palace and winter residence of the Emperor of China from the Ming dynasty (since the Yongle Emperor) to the end of the Qing dynasty, between 1420 and 1924. The Forbidden City served as the home of Chinese emperors and their households and was the ceremonial and political center of the Chinese government for over 500 years. Since 1925, the Forbidden City has been under the charge of the Palace Museum, whose extensive collection of artwork and artifacts was built upon the imperial collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The complex claims to consist of 9,999 rooms in total, although experts have shown in recent years that the number amounts to 8,886, covering 72 ha (720,000 m2) (178 acres). The palace exemplifies the opulence of the residences of the Chinese emperor and the traditional Chinese palatial architecture, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. Since 2012, the Forbidden City has seen an average of 14 million visitors annually, and received more than 19 million visitors in 2019.

It was included in the first list of national priority protected sites that China produced in 1961, and UNESCO recognizes it as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

Text adapted from “Forbidden City” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Forbidden City ranks #3 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #1 of the 115 mapped in China. Founded 1420, it is older than 52% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 434 atlas entries founded in the 15th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 143,606 times in the last 60 days, more than 100% of the atlas. Wikidata records about 19,300,000 visitors in 2019. 15 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Beijing, 2 km away. See how China compares in the castle statistics.

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