The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was actually not a city at all. The Forbidden City was a palace, from the Ming dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. Even though it wasn't a city, it was almost as big as one. There are 980 buildings still standing from the original construction, and rooms for almost 9,000 people. The palace covers over 7 million square feet, and is officialy the "largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world." in order to build the palace, almost a million workeres were used. The construction itself lasted for 15 years. Only the highest quality materials were used, constructed of whole tree logs and chinese marble. The floor of the palace had the appearance of gold, from the special baking treatment required for the palace. The palace is surrounded by a 26 ft high wall, with 4 gates. Besides these gates, there are 4 corner towers, each with 72 ridges. These impressive structures are the most recognizable part of the palace, styled after the the Pavilion of Prince Teng and Yellow Crane Pavilion. To the left is one of the 4 gates, known as the Gate Of Divine Might. The other 3 are the Meridian Gate, West Glorious Gate, and the East Glorious Gate. Besides these gates, the City also has the Gate of Supreme Harmony, which stands as the Entrance to the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the Largest Wooden Structure in China, resting on three levels of marble and surrounded by brass incense burners. This hall was where new emperors were enthroned, and royal marriages were performed. The Forbidden City also is home to the Palace of Heavenly Purity. This palace is one of the three largest in the Inner Courtyard of the Forbidden City. It acted as home of the Emperor during the Ming Dynasty. However, the Yongzheng Emperor chose to reside in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and used the Palace of Heavenly Purity as his Audience Chamber. The Palace was also home to the Emperor's will, as he hid it behind a tablet reading "Justice and Honour", the tablet at the very top in the picture below.