The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is located in the middle of Beijing, very near  Tian´anmen Square, and was the Chinese Imperial Palace during the Qing and mid Ming Dynasties. It covers 720.000 m2, with 800 buildings and more than 8.000 rooms. It is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 as the "Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties". The Imperial Palace area is located directly to the north of Tian´anmen Square and is accessible from the square via Tian´anmen Gate. It is surrounded by a large area called the Imperial City. With a rectangular shape, surrounded by a six meter deep moat and a ten meter high wall, includes five halls, seventeen palaces, and numerous other buildings.