Forbidden City Pictures - Forbidden City Photo Gallery

eir governance as well. Forbidden City is also named "The Palace Musuem" or "The Imperial Palace".Constructed for 14 years or so from 1406 to 1420, the palace complex was composed of 999 buildings with an area of 720,000 m2.

The palace complex buildings features the traditional Chinese palatial architecture, and have great impact on cultural and architectural developments both in China and the world. The Forbidden City was crowned a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 as the largest cluster of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

The South Entrance (Meridian Gate or Wumen in Chinese)

On the right side the south entrance, you buy your entrance tickets at the ticketing offices. In the tourist peak season, the queue can be very long and you have to patiently line up to buy your tickets. In the tourist high season (spring, autumn and national holidays) scalpers are rampant around the entrance. Just ignore them!

Entering through the Meridian Gate, you will see a large square that is crossed by five bridges and the Gate of Supreme Harmony in the north area. The Gate of Supreme Harmony is the ceremonial centre of imperial power.

Approaching the Gate of Supreme Harmony, look back at the inside part of the south entrance gate - Meridian Gate)

A close look at the Gate of Supreme Harmony

Going through the Gate of Supreme Harmony, you will see the Hall of Supreme Harmony

The southern ramp in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony has bas-relief carvings

The Sundial is made of marble stone

A huge mythical animal perched on the platform in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony

The eave corners are decorated with 10 kinds of animals

After the Hall of Supreme Harmony, you enter the courtyard where both the Hall of Central Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony are located.

The Hall of Central Peace is a smaller and square hall that was used by the Emperors to prepare and rest before and during ceremonies.

Behind the Hall of Central Harmony is the Hall of Preserving Harmony, which was used for rehearsing ceremonies, and it also used be the site of the final stage of the Imperial examination.

Behind the Hall of Preserving Harmony is the ramp - the largest stone carvin, the large bas-relief carvings in Forbiddenn City.

Now you enter the inner court and see the Palace of Heavenly Court

The Imperial Garden in the north tip of the Forbidden City.

The north gate - Gate of Divine ( Shenwu Men in Chinese )

The Jingshan Patk to the north of the Fobidden City.

A bird's-eye view of the Forbidden City from the top of the Jingshan Park.

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