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The Forbidden City or '''Forbidden Palace''' (), located at the exact center of the ancient city of Beijing , was the imperial palace during the mid- Ming and the Qing dynasties. Known now as the '''Palace Museum''' (), its extensive grounds cover 720,000 square meters, exactly 999 buildings and more than 8,000 rooms. As such, 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 grounds are located directly to the north of Tiananmen Square and are accessible from the square via Tiananmen Gate . It is surrounded by a large area called the Imperial City. Although no longer occupied by royalty, the Forbidden City remains a symbol of Chinese sovereignty and the image of Its Entrance Gate appears on the Seal Of The People's Republic Of China . The Palace Museum is now one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. Recently, the site has been under much renovation which has limited visitors to the main courtyards and a few gardens. The Palace Museum in the Forbidden City should not be confused with the National Palace Museum in Taiwan . Both museums derive from the same institution, but were split after the Chinese Civil War . NAMES The Forbidden City is known by many names. In Chinese, the site is most commonly known as Gu Gong (故宫), or the "Former Palace". (The word "Gu Gong" is also a generic name referring to all former palaces, another prominent example being the former Imperial Palaces ( Mukden Palace ) in Shenyang .) The museum which is located in these buildings is known as the "Palace Museum". The name by which the site is most commonly known in English is "The Forbidden City", a translation of Zijin Cheng (紫禁城), which literally means "Purple Forbidden City". This is a reference to the fact that commoners were not allowed inside the imperial palaces. HISTORY | ||
| Image:Beijing-forbidden5jpgA Statue Of A | "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/crane_(bird)" class="copylinks">Crane inside the imperial palace |
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| Image:Forbidden City Imperial Guardian LionsJPGBedchamber | "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Imperial_guardian_lions" class="copylinks">Guardian Lions |
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| Image:ImperialRoofDecojpg | "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Imperial_roof_decoration" class="copylinks">Imperial Roof Decoration |
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| Image:Forbiddencityresidence01jpgEntrance To The Private Residence With | "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Jingshan_Park" class="copylinks">Jingshan in the background |
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