Photos from the Forbidden City - BeiJing - China

The Forbidden City (gugong in Chinese) used to be the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is situated north of the Tiananmen Square. With a length of 960 meters and a width of 750 meters, this palace complex covers a floor space of 720,000 square meters, and has 9,999 buildings, this makes it the world's biggest palace complex.

The city is surrounded with a 52-meter-long, 6-meter-deep moat and a 10-meter-high, 3,400-meter-long city wall with one gate on each side. There are four towers overlooking the city inside and outside on the four corners. It is listed by the UN as a World Cultural Heritage site and is the hottest tourist attraction in BeiJing.

Since yellow was the symbol of the royal family, it is the dominant color in the Forbidden City. Roofs are built with yellow glazed tiles; decorations in the palace are painted yellow.

This gilded bronze lion, is the female lion from two which were aimed to show imperial dignity. The east one is male, with its front right paw put on a ball, meaning imperial power extended worldwide. This lioness on the west puts its front left paw on a lion cub, indicating prosperously growing family.

Amazing care was taken building the details of the forbidden city.

Home  |  About  |  Places  |  Portfolio  |  Store  |  Site Map  |  Links  |  Contact  |  Wallpaper