One of the most mysterious, vast and famous palace complexes in the world is called "Gugong", which means "the palace of the former rulers" in Chinese. Better known as " Forbidden City". It was built in the early 15th century under Emperor Zhu Di (Ming Dynasty), who made Beijing the capital of the Chinese Empire. Gugun, this "city within a city", was closed to mere mortals for 500 years, as it served as a home for the "celestials" - the emperors.
Hence, 24 generations of rulers ruled the Celestial Empire - from 1421 to 1912. Gugong is the first of the architectural masterpieces of China, listed by UNESCO as a "world heritage".
Debunking the myths of the Forbidden City in Beijing
The full historical name of the modern Gugong museum complex, which covers a total area of 720,000 square meters, is the Purple Forbidden City, since it is fenced off from the rest of Beijing by high 10-meter high bright red walls with a total length of 3,400 meters and 52 meters wide moats filled with "golden »Water. And any resident of the country who would dare to enter the territory of the palace complex was waiting for the death penalty.
In connection with the centuries-old veil of secrecy that reliably surrounded Gugun, there are many legends about the imperial palace. It is believed that the design of the Forbidden City of China was dreamed of by one hermit monk, who created all the main building projects. He showed them to Prince Zhu Di and thereby gave the future wen-huangdi ("cultural emperor") the great dream of building a house for the Sons of Heaven.
The third emperor from the Ming dynasty wanted to make a complex of 10,000 rooms, but the Jade Lord Yu-di himself came to him and forbade Zhu Di to build a palace using the sacred number "wan". Only the ruler of Heaven could afford it. Then it was decided to make 9999.5 rooms. Whether they were actually built is unknown, since the Forbidden City of Gugun burned many times and was rebuilt many times. Now it has 8707 rooms.
Curiously, if you spend the night in each room in Forbidden City only once, it will take a person 27 years to have time to sleep in each room. This number of rooms also made practical sense: no one, except the trusted eunuch, knew which room the emperor would sleep in today, which reliably protected him from hired assassins.
They have been building the future dwelling of the "earthly gods" for almost 16 years. According to legend, 1 million people were involved in the construction, 200 million tiles, 100 million bricks and marble were used. In 1421 the last apartments were finished. The construction was carried out in accordance with the strict requirements of feng shui: the entrance to the palace and all the main buildings are oriented to the south, and from the north the complex is surrounded by mountains that protect it from cold winds and evil spirits. Each of the parts of the palace corresponded to a certain season, so that the emperor could live in constant harmony with nature.
In general, all Gugun is complex and intricate system of signs and symbols. For example, together with the city gates located on the south-north line, the complex forms a single hieroglyph zhong ("middle") - this is one of the main categories of philosophy and culture of China.
The true history of the Forbidden City with a touch of fiction
For five centuries, the owners of Gugong changed 24 times: 14 times representatives of the Ming dynasty ascended the throne and 10 times - emperors from the Qing dynasty. During this time, strangers entered the territory of the palace only a few times. So, in 1644, Zhu Yujian, the last Ming emperor, imposed such exorbitant taxes on the whole country that he caused the population to revolt. The rebels broke into the Forbidden City and plundered it. But how badly the abode of the "earthly gods" suffered then is unknown. But it was thanks to this uprising that the Qing dynasty reigned on the throne.
Zhu Yujian killed his concubines and daughters, and then hanged himself in order, according to ancient beliefs, to ascend to heaven, riding on a dragon. But this was far from the last blood that stained the marble of the imperial palace. During the Qing reign, the general line of power was reduced to the complete isolation of China from the rest of the world, which led to the strengthening of intra-palace intrigues.
It is known that at least 3,000 eunuchs lived in the Forbidden City in China and several thousand concubines. Eunuchs were intriguing, concubines were spies, and over the centuries, Gugun's story was replenished with many scandalous stories in which truth cannot be distinguished from fiction. Like the Vatican in Rome, the palace lived its own life, and, of course, the brightest page in the book called "the Qing era" was the almost 50-year rule of Cixi. Having made a career from a concubine to an empress, having ruined many lives in her lifetime, this woman has become an integral and most secret part of the Forbidden City. At the same time, it was thanks to her, or rather, Cixi's passion for photography, that the world first saw pictures of the interior decoration of the palace.
The death of the empress (1908) almost coincided with the end of the Qing dynasty. After 3 years, the last ruler, the young Pu-Yi, signed the abdication of the throne. He lived in the palace until 1924, and during his time there was the last major fire that destroyed many caches and warehouses in the Forbidden City. A number of historians believe that the palace was set on fire by eunuchs who wanted to hide the scale of the plunder from the imperial treasuries. This theory is also supported by the fact that in the entire huge complex there is not a single chimney: underground pipes provided heat to the buildings, and in general the entire heating system was designed in such a way that practically excluded the possibility of spontaneous combustion.
The birth of the museum, or the transformation of the Forbidden City into an open temple of art
The first museum was opened in the Forbidden City in 1914 and was located in the Hall of Military Glory. In 1925, an inventory of the palace property was carried out, which included 1.17 million units. Later, the collection of the Gugong Museum was significantly enlarged. In 1933, due to the invasion of the Japanese army into China, a significant number of exhibits were evacuated to Guizhou and Sichuan provinces, but the Beijing part of the collection was preserved. In 1948, almost 3,000 boxes of imperial treasures came to Taiwan, and in 1965, the National Museum was opened in Taipei, which displays almost 700,000 bronze sculptures, paintings, ceramics and porcelain products, jewelry, books, historical documents, old coins and others. exhibits from Gugun. And the Forbidden City Museum in Beijing opened in 1949.
Currently, much of the Forbidden City is closed for major renovations, and in all its splendor Gugun will appear only in 2020. But even the part that is accessible to tourists attracts about 7 million people annually to the chambers of the emperors: in the high season, 70,000-75,000 tourists come here a day.
The main attractions of Gugun
The main entrance to the mysterious Forbidden City of China is considered the Gate of Heavenly Peace, located on the south side. A wide road begins immediately behind them, on the left side of it there is a magnificent imperial garden, and on the right - the Taiji cypress forest. The road will lead us to the Gate of Right Conduct.
The Forbidden City itself begins outside the Noon Gate. There are always a lot of people on the huge square: some are resting, others are just getting ready for the trip. Having passed the bridge over the Golden Water, the tourist sees the Gate of the Highest Harmony in front of him. Passing them, before the astonished gaze, another, truly gigantic square, on which military formations were carried out in previous centuries, spreads out. After walking a couple more kilometers, you can reach the Hall of Higher Harmony.
In general, the entire imperial the complex is divided into the outer and inner palaces... In the premises of the Outer Palace, the ruler conducted all the solemn ceremonies: the hall of the Supreme Harmony was considered the main one, as well as the Halls of Preservation of Harmony, where the throne of the emperor was established, and of Total Harmony. Families of emperors, eunuchs, servants and concubines lived in the Inner Palace. Here are located such famous all over the world (thanks to hundreds of photos taken by tourists), such as the halls of the Unification of the world, Heavenly purity and Earthly tranquility. How to find - special article raksket.
Also installed here is one of the most popular "wonders" of China - a carved marble slab 16.75 meters long and weighing 250 tons. The pattern on it was carved in 1761: relief images of mountains, foamy seas and cirrus clouds, and dancing dragons holding a huge pearl ball in their mouths, invariably delight tourists from all over the world.
The Forbidden City in Beijing is the largest and most mysterious palace complex in the world. Having served as the home of 24 emperors of China for over 500 years, the palace was closed to ordinary citizens. Anyone who dared to break this rule faced death. And despite the fact that most of the complex is open to visitors today, the history of the Forbidden City still remains a mystery.
The royal complex, comparable in scope to the Palace of Versailles in France, occupies 72 hectares and consists of more than 800 buildings with 9999 rooms (in the Potala Palace in Tibet - 999 rooms), with a total area of 150,000 square meters. The city is surrounded by a ten-meter wall and a moat called "Golden Water". The site for the construction was chosen in accordance with feng shui: from the north, the building is surrounded by mountains, the entrance is oriented to the south, a river flows inside the city that gently bends around palaces, which, according to feng shui beliefs, allows you to accumulate energy. The Forbidden City in the heart of Beijing was cut off from the rest of the city with moats and purple-red walls. Only the emperor and his entourage had the right to be here, and for mere mortals this part of Beijing was inaccessible. The Forbidden City was the center of the Chinese Empire, and in the eyes of the Chinese themselves, the whole world. They lived here, ruled the country here until the fall of the empire in 1911, rulers from the Ming and Qing dynasties.
There is a legend that the design of the Forbidden City came in a dream to a monk who drew designs for Prince Zhu Di at the end of the 14th century. After becoming the emperor of China, he began to make his dream come true. Zhu Di built the Forbidden City in Beijing and declared it the new capital of China and the center of the universe, from where the divine emperors could rule the Celestial Empire more effectively. At the same time, he launched a second large-scale project: Taoist temples and monasteries on Wudang Mountain. The Forbidden City took 15 years to build. According to legend, a million workers were employed, 100 million bricks, 200 million tiles and an untold amount of marble were used. The complex was completed in 1421. It was then that Emperor Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty moved his capital from Nanjing to Beijing. With great efforts, palace structures were built that corresponded to the greatness of the imperial power. In 1644, when the Ming dynasty was overthrown by the Manchus, the city was sacked. But the Manchu rulers, who came to power under the name of the Qing dynasty, restored it to its former splendor. New temples and palaces were erected, ponds were dug, and gardens of incredible beauty were laid out. By the 18th century, the city approached the zenith of its splendor.
The territory of the Forbidden City is a square in the plan. The city lies on the so-called Peking axis (from north to south) and is surrounded by wide ditches and walls 10.4 meters high. Behind them are palaces, gates, courtyards, streams and gardens symmetrically located. The closed palace was home to royal families and servants, which consisted of thousands of eunuchs and concubines. Entering the city without permission meant death for the offender, and the punishment was slow and painful. Despite this, many curious people wanted to see what was going on inside. Some got this opportunity in 1644. Emperor Ming lived in luxury when new taxation literally starved the population. An uprising broke out into the Forbidden City. The Ming Dynasty emperor is said to have been in a drunken frenzy when the rebels arrived. To protect his harem from desecration, he killed all the women and cut off his daughter's hand. Then he hanged himself, thus opening the way for the Qing dynasty. Tradition says that the Qing clan was cursed by the emperor - "the Qing house will fall from the hand of a woman." However, in 1644, the Qing dynasty settled in the Forbidden City and its secrets became even more intriguing. The eunuchs of the palace, of whom there were about three thousand, began to prepare their own conspiracies and recruited spies from concubines. There are many scandalous stories about this, in which it is impossible to distinguish truth from fiction when the Forbidden City is described.
In 1853, a seventeen-year-old girl, Cixi, was taken to the palace as a concubine. Over time, she became the most powerful woman in Chinese history, and many believe that she led to the destruction of not only the Qing dynasty, but also of imperial China as a whole. Cixi broke with tradition and became an empress dowager. She ruled the country until her two-year-old nephew Pu-Yi succeeded her. Pu-Yi was the last owner of the Forbidden City in Beijing. In 1912, at the age of five, he abdicated the throne, but he was allowed to remain in the palace.
A major fire in 1923 destroyed the city's warehouses. Many believe that it was set on fire by eunuchs to cover up the theft from the royal treasury. In 1925, Pu-Yi, the last twenty-fourth emperor of China, left the Forbidden City. And twenty-four years later, the complex was opened to the public.
The main entrance to the Forbidden City is on the south side through the Noon Gate. The whole complex is divided into the Inner and Outer palaces. The main premises of the Outer Palace, where the emperor held state events and solemn ceremonies: the halls of Supreme Harmony, Complete Harmony and Preservation of Harmony. The northern part, the Inner Palace, was occupied by the families of emperors and concubines. Here are the halls of Heavenly purity, Unification of the world and Earthly tranquility. They are surrounded by three imperial gardens: Longevity, Kindness and Tranquility. Behind them is the elegant Imperial Garden with gazebos and picturesque rock formations. The entire city is divided by an eight-kilometer central axis. At the center of this axis is the Throne, symbolizing the imperial power. The imperial throne in the Palace of Supreme Harmony, intended for special occasions.
In the Forbidden City, there are only 9,000 rooms in which the emperor and the women around him (mother, wives, concubines) lived, as well as countless servants and eunuchs. Life at court was subject to the strictest rules of etiquette. The Forbidden City was something like a cage where the emperor and his entourage lived, fenced off from reality.
The facades of all the main buildings are facing south. Thus, the Forbidden City turned its back on all the hostile forces of the north, on the cold winds from Siberia. The main entrance is also on the south side. It is called Wumen (midday gate), where the emperor inspected his troops. Outside the gates there is an inner courtyard, which is crossed by a small Golden River. Five marble bridges are thrown across it, symbolizing the five virtues and leading to the Gate of Higher Harmony. Behind them is another large courtyard. It is so large that it can hold 20,000 people. On the opposite side of it, on a high marble terrace, rises the most significant building of the Forbidden City - the Palace of Supreme Harmony.
In this palace, on especially solemn days for the state, the emperor sat on the throne. To the ringing of bells, the governors, dignitaries and nobles surrounded him with waves of incense.
The palace, which is now a museum, contains about a million precious historical relics of the ancient dynasties of China and is listed as a UNESCO cultural heritage. In Beijing, you can visit the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, also known as Yonghegong Monastery or Lama Temple. Beijing's most popular temple is undoubtedly the Temple of Heaven - the pinnacle of China's cosmic four: the Sun Temple, the Moon Temple and the Earth Temple.
Forbidden City, video:
The Forbidden City is located in the center of Beijing. Open daily from 08.30 to 17.00, entrance costs 40 RMB in winter and 60 RMB in summer.
Forbidden City (Gugun)- the largest palace complex in the world. Included by UNESCO in the List of World Heritage of Humanity. It was built in the years 1406-1420. From here, the Celestial Empire was ruled by 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. More than 7 million tourists visit it every year.
The city is called Forbidden because for almost 500 years only the emperor, his family, concubines, eunuchs, guards and servants could live on its territory. The rest of the people to enter here without an invitation was strictly forbidden. Almost all buildings date back to the 18th century. Due to the fact that almost all of them are made of wood, you cannot smoke here.
View of the Forbidden City from Coal Hill Park
The Forbidden City is a rectangle stretching from north to south. Several gates lead into it. The palace is surrounded by a moat, 52 m wide. Today, there are 980 palace buildings in the Forbidden City, and there are 8728 rooms in them.
Courtyards of the Forbidden City
Noon gate
The southern entrance to the palace is guarded by the Midday Gate, which has five passages - three central and two side. The central passage was reserved exclusively for the emperor. Once in a lifetime (on the wedding day) the empress could pass them.
Noon gate
The main colors of the Forbidden City are yellow and red. It is no coincidence that these colors became the main colors in the emperor's palace. In ancient China, red meant solemnity, wealth and reverence. Yellow is the purest color, the color of earth - the most important of the five primary elements.
Red and yellow are the main colors of the Imperial Palace
Hall of Higher Harmony
The main building of the Forbidden City and the largest wooden building in China is the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The entrance to it is guarded by a bronze lion and a lioness. The lion plays with a colored silk ball - a symbol of the emperor's eternal power, and the lioness is depicted with a lion cub.
Gate of Supreme Harmony
Hall of Higher Harmony
Side structures in the square near the Hall of Supreme Harmony
Lion with a silk ball at the entrance to the Hall of Supreme Harmony
Throne Room of Supreme Harmony
In the courtyard in front of the palace, on each side, there are two miniature temples. The temple on the east side symbolizes territorial integrity, on the west - a symbol of a rich harvest.
Miniature temple
On the western side of the terrace near the Palace of Heavenly Purity, there is a small pavilion containing the Measure of Grain. It meant that the emperor was destined to judge, measure and unite the country.
Measure of Grain at the Palace of Heavenly Purity
Here you can also see a pair of bronze cranes and turtles with dragon heads, which symbolize longevity.
Bronze turtle
Bronze crane
In the courtyards of the Forbidden City, you can see iron vats for storing water from a fire. There are 308 of them in total, and 18 of them are gilded. In winter, the vats were covered with blankets so that the water would not freeze, and on especially cold days they were heated with coal.
Gold-plated vats for storing water from fire
Palace of Collected Supremacy
The Palace of Collected Supremacy was the residence of Empress Dowager Cixi. All floors and beams of the palace are painted with flowers, birds, fish and landscapes. The palace is decorated with bronze dragons and a deer installed in front of the entrance. Now the palace looks exactly the same as it did at that time.
A bronze dragon in the courtyard of the Palace of Assembled Supremacy
Artful ornament on the roof of the pavilions
Imperial garden
In front of the northern gates of the Military Valor is the imperial garden, where emperors and empresses rested and enjoyed themselves. Many old cypresses, decorative stone hills, gazebos and pavilions have been preserved in the garden.
Pavilion of a Thousand Autumn in the Imperial Garden
Imperial garden
North Gate of Military Valor
The territory of the Forbidden City is huge, a whole day is not enough to go around all its nooks and crannies. Traditionally, groups of tourists follow a direct route - from the southern gate to the northern gate. But if you have time, then you can just wander the streets of this amazing structure. Each courtyard is unique and has its own distinctive features. Various exhibitions are held in the pavilions: items made of bronze, jade, jewelry of the empress, weapons, etc. You should not strive to see everything. It is better to visit several streets, palaces, sit in the shade of cozy courtyards and feel the atmosphere prevailing here than to gallop around the Forbidden City without really seeing anything.
Palanquin at the Palace of Eternal Longevity
Hall of Central Harmony
Throne Room of Preserved Harmony
How to get to the Forbidden City
The Forbidden City is the very heart of Beijing, its center. Therefore, getting here is easy enough. Tian'anmen East metro station (red line). To get to the Imperial Palace, you need to cross the famous Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
Forbidden City (China) - description, history, location. Exact address, phone number, website. Reviews of tourists, photos and videos.
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The Forbidden City of Gugong is the largest and most famous palace complex in the world, located in Beijing. It served as the residence of twenty-four powerful rulers of the two dynasties of the Celestial Empire - Ming and Qing.
The place for its construction was determined by astronomers and it is located, in their opinion, exactly in the center of the globe.
Today, heading to the Forbidden City, you need to go through only three gates: Tiananmen, Duanmen and, finally, the main gate of the palace - Umen. In the old days, for foreign ambassadors and officials, the path to the palace was longer: they passed through five gates.
All the decoration and decoration of the Forbidden City is permeated with philosophical and religious ideas and principles of China, including that the emperor, despite all his greatness, should be fair and wise.
A bit of history
The beginning of the construction of the Forbidden City dates back to 1406. The emperor who gave the order for its construction was Zhu Di. There is a legend that one of the monks dreamed about the project of the Forbidden City, and he told about it to the prince, who later became the emperor.
The main material used for the construction of the palace is wood, as well as brick, marble, tiles. Almost all buildings inside the complex are one-story, and massive roofs rest on powerful columns, such a structure is the most resistant to earthquakes. The facades of all the main buildings are facing south - thus the Forbidden City turned its back on all the hostile forces of the north. The main entrance is also on the south side.
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City is not just a pretty name, it is also a statement of fact. Ordinary people did not have access here. The family of the reigning emperor and their numerous servants lived in the closed palace. Without permission, it was forbidden to enter the city on pain of a slow and painful execution - although even this sometimes did not frighten the most curious. However, not only curiosity forced people to enter the Forbidden City, for example, the last emperor of the Ming dynasty was driven to suicide by residents who burst into the palace, who were angry with exorbitant taxes and hunger.
On the Qing clan, the last ruling dynasty in the Forbidden City, according to legend, a curse was imposed - the Qing house would fall from the hand of a woman. In general, this is what happened. Former concubine Cixi ruled China after her husband's death, until her nephew, two-year-old Pu Yi, became her successor. The Kid became the last emperor and owner of the Forbidden City. In 1912, at the age of five, he abdicated the throne, but remained to live in the palace.
Currently, the Forbidden City is no longer the residence of the rulers, now it is the Imperial Museum "Gugun", where anyone can go.
According to legend, there are ten thousand rooms in the palace of the Heavenly Emperor. The palace of the Son of Heaven, as the emperors of China called themselves, should be at least a little more modest so as not to outshine the Heavenly ruler. So it covers an area of 72 hectares, on which there are about eight hundred buildings and a total of only 9.999 rooms.
In fact, there are, of course, fewer of them - obviously, it just seemed like the Chinese love for the number nine.
The city is surrounded by a high wall and a moat filled with water - the Jinshuihe (Golden River) canal. Several bridges were thrown across the moat - the central two were intended only for members of the imperial family, the next - for the highest military and civilian officials, and the extreme ones were called public and any inhabitant of the Forbidden City could pass through them, regardless of his rank and origin.
There are many beautiful and graceful buildings on the territory of the Forbidden City. Pavilions, gazebos, galleries, as well as lakes, rivers, gardens. And their names, as a rule, are in no way inferior to the elegance of their appearance - for example, the pavilion of the Contact of Heaven and Earth, the Gate of Heavenly Purity or the Gazebo, from where the arrival of spring is visible.
The Forbidden City was rebuilt several times after fires, destruction and robberies. However, they tried to reproduce its appearance with maximum accuracy, so that what we can see there now is not too different from the original appearance of the palace.
The collection of valuable exhibits is replenished from year to year, has already reached a million. The main part of the exposition consists of paintings, books, bronze items, imperial clothes and jewelry, made with amazing skill.
The Forbidden City is divided by a central axis, eight kilometers long. In the center is the Taihedyan Pavilion (Hall of Supreme Harmony), which is almost forty meters high. For many centuries, it remained the tallest building in Beijing, because during the empire it was not allowed to erect buildings higher than it - the ban did not apply only to temples. In the center of the pavilion is the Throne, a symbol of the emperor's power on earth.
Practical information
Address: 4 Jingshan Qianjie, Dongcheng, Beijing.
The museum is open from 01.04 to 31.10 - from 08:30 to 17:00; from 01.11 to 31.03 - from 08:30 to 16:30.
Admission ticket for adults: from April 1 to October 31 - 60 CNY, on other days - 40 CNY. Discounts are provided for children, students and schoolchildren, pensioners. Bank cards of major international payment systems are accepted for payment.
In China, on a vast territory in the center of the capital, there is one of the largest palace complexes in the world - the so-called "Forbidden City". Two great dynasties - Ming and Qing ruled the empire from the walls of this residence. And these are 24 rulers of the Celestial Empire. The place for the erection of the imperial chambers was chosen with great care. According to astronomers of those years, this very point was the center of the globe.
According to an ancient Chinese legend, a monk saw the city plan in a dream. He told about the amazing dream to the prince - the future emperor. As a result of the grandiose construction, a luxurious palace complex was erected.
Forbidden - because inaccessible
Why is the city called Forbidden? At a time when the ruling emperor lived within the walls of this palace with his family and a large retinue, access to the common man here was closed. Anyone who dared to disobey the order and nevertheless penetrated the city was expected to be executed.
The buildings were erected mainly of wood, however, brick and marble are found. The buildings' heavy roofs are supported by powerful columns. These are measures of protection against possible earthquakes.
The guards vigilantly watched who and why went to the imperial chambers. Five gates stood in the way of ambassadors and local officials who arrived to the emperor. The entrance doors are facing south. Thus, the inhabitants of the city fenced off from the enemy threatening the Celestial Empire from the north.
Outside, the city is surrounded by a high wall and a moat filled with water. This is an artificially created channel called the Golden Water River. Several bridges have been laid across the canal. And each resident knew which of the bridges was allowed to enter the city for a person of his class. The two central ones were used exclusively by members of the imperial family. Two bridges were assigned to senior civilian and military officials. And after the two remaining, the rest of the inhabitants could enter the city, regardless of rank and rank.
Museum complex Gugun
Wooden buildings have repeatedly suffered from fires and robberies. But each time, restoring buildings, the architects tried to give the buildings the same look. Therefore, today tourists see the grandeur and beauty of old buildings almost unchanged. 
Now the Forbidden City is a museum complex. And now anyone can get into it and admire the rich decoration of the imperial chambers.
The palace complex occupies about 72 hectares of land. Its territory contains 800 buildings. Pavilions, carved pavilions, light galleries are interspersed with blooming gardens, lakes, even rivers. In the center is the Taihedyan Pavilion of the Highest Harmony. Its height is about forty meters. For several centuries, this building was the tallest in all of Beijing. In the empire, it was strictly forbidden to build buildings higher. In the center of the pavilion there is a majestic throne - a symbol of imperial power on earth.
The roof of Taihedian is supported by 86 wooden columns. The diameter of each of them is one meter. Six gilded columns surround the magnificent throne. Carvings of dragons adorn these powerful pillars. The luxurious hall of the pavilion was used for the most significant palace receptions.
Each palace is beautiful in its own way. Here are collected works of great masters: bronze items, paintings, skillfully made jewelry, rich imperial clothes. The collection of exhibits is replenished annually, and now there are about a million luxurious things in the museum complex.
Gugong, that is, "Former Palace" - this is the name of the imperial possessions today, a beautiful place that is definitely worth exploring when visiting Beijing.
