In the center of Beijing lies the Forbidden City, one of the most dazzling architectural masterpieces in the world. It was once home to 24 emperors during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties and is now a public museum and World Heritage site. Comprised of more than 9,000 rooms, off limits for 500 years, the Forbidden City is the world's largest palace complex.
It was built in the beginning of the 15th century as a replica of the Purple Palace where God lived in Heaven. Folklore has it that there were originally 9999.5 rooms in the Forbidden City, but since Paradise contains 10,000 rooms, the Emperor (considered the Son of Heaven on earth) was forced to cut the number by half a room. Since such a place was restricted to all ordinary people, it was dubbed the "Forbidden City".
The complex embodies traditional Chinese palatial architecture and holds the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world. It has been under charge of the Palace museum since 1924 and houses numerous rare artwork and artifacts. Part of the museum's former collection now resides in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
Opening its doors to the public in 1949, the Forbidden City now consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,707 bays of rooms. The compound covers 720,000 square meters and is enclosed within a larger wall called the Imperial City. The architecture of the complex follows the traditional Chinese practice of feng shui and as such, most of the important buildings face south to honor the Sun. Designed to be the center of the ancient city of Beijing, the north-south axis still remains the central axis of Beijing.