Located in the center of the central axis of Beijing, the Palace Museum, formerly called the Forbidden City, used to be the imperial palace of 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. As an epitome of the best ancient Han Chinese royal architecture, this unrivaled architectural masterpiece is one of the world's largest and best preserved wooden building complexes in existence.

The Forbidden City is 961 meters long from north to south and 753 meters wide from east to west. The layout and spatial arrangement inherits and embodies the traditional characteristic of urban planning and palace construction in ancient China, featuring a central axis, symmetrical design and layout of outer court at the front and inner court at the rear and the inclusion of additional landscaped courtyards. Now the Palace Museum has a total of 1863404 pieces of collections. There are 12 special halls, 11 in situ display palaces, and many themed exhibitions.

Special Halls

There are 12 special halls now in the Palace Museum: Digital Hall, Ancient Architecture Hall, Painting and Calligraphy Hall, Ceramic Hall, Sculpture Hall, Weaponry Hall, Bronze Hall, Watch Hall, Treasure Hall, Opera Hall, Home Hall, Forbidden City Gulangyu Foreign Cultural Relics Hall. Among them, the Treasure Hall and the Watch Hall are the most popular among the public.

In-situ displays

There are 11 in-situ displays in the Palace Museum: Hall of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Central Harmony, Hall of Preserving Harmony, Hall of Heavenly Purity, Hall of Union, Palace of Earthly Tranquility, Hall of Mental Cultivation, Hall of Imperial Supremacy, Palace of Longevity and Health, Palace of Gathered Elegance, Hall of All Peace.

Themed Exhibitions

Catering to current events, the National Palace Museum regularly organizes various thematic exhibitions. For example, the "600 Years of the Forbidden City" exhibition was held in 2020 on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the Forbidden City. Now, the exhibitions of “The Ceramics Gallery of the Palace Museum”, “Honest Prescription, Benevolent Practice: Medicine in the Qing Dynasty Palace” are on display.

Address：No.4, Jingshan Qianjie, Dongcheng District, Beijing

Traffic：

Bus: Take bus No. 1, 120, 2, 52, 82, Night 1, Sightseeing Line 1, Sightseeing Line 2 to Tiananmen East Station

Subway: Take subway line 1 to Tiananmen East or Tiananmen West station

Opening Hours:

Peak Season: 8:30-17:00 (Apr. 1st to Oct. 31st)

Off-season: 8:30-16:30 (Nov. 1st to Mar. 31st)

Official Website：https://www.dpm.org.cn/Home.html