Hand-writing by Guo Moruo

The Palace Museum, formerly known as the Forbidden City, is located at the heart of Beijing. It is the grandest integral Palace complex still remaining in China. It used to be the imperial palace of the Ming and the Qing, the last two dynasties of China. The construction of the palaces in the Forbidden City started in 1406, i.e.in the 4th year under the reign of YongLe in the Ming Dynasty. The project spread over 15 years and was not completed until 1420. They housed the courts of a succession of 24 emperors. The whole palace complex was converted into a museum in 1925. 　　The palace complex, consisting of over 9000 rooms (with a floor space of 150000 square metres), covers an area of 720000 square metres. It is surrounded by a 3-kilometres long wall 10-metres high and protected by a moat 52-metres wide. The Forbidden City has four imposing gates and at each corner is an exquisitely designed watch tower. 　　The entire architectural layout was designed to bring out the supreme authority of the emperor and the hierarchy of the feudal society. All the principal palaces lie on the axis of the old city of Beijing and groups of buildings on both sides were laid out to achieve the symmetrical effect of perfect unity.

Wide View of the Forbidden City Full Spherical Panoramics
West Line North-west Watch Tower West Lane Yang Xing Zhai Changchun Gate Among three Gates Yangxin Hall Yangxin Hall Yangxin Gate Yangxin Gate Glazed Screen Bronze Vat Military Section South-west Watch Tower	Central Line ShenWuMen Gate ShenWuMen Gate ChengGuangMen Gate Qin'an Hall Imperial Garden Kun Ning Gate Kun Ning Palace Qianqing Palace Along Qianqing Hall Bridge Great Stone Sculpture Giant Jar Baohe Hall Zhonghe Hall Three Main Halls Taihe Hall Taihe Hall Door of Taihe Hall Stone Dragon Carve At the Corner Taihe Gate Taihe Gate Square Golden River Bridge Wumen Gate	East Line North-East Watch Tower Zhenfei Well East Lane East Lane Suichu Hall Guhua Xuan Liushang Pavilion Yanqi Gate Changyin Tower Huangji Hall Nine-Dragon Screen Above the Moat South-east Watch Tower
Cylindrical Panoramics
North-west Watch Tower Taihe Hall Taihe Hall	Qianqing Palace Qin'an Hall	Imperial Garden qianqiu Pavilion Wanchun Pavilion
Editress: Li Meng © 2002, ChinaVR.net