故宫介绍

故宫位于北京市中心，也称“紫禁城”。这里曾居住过24个皇帝，是明清两代（公元1368～1911年）的皇宫，现辟为“故宫博物院”。故宫的整个建筑金碧辉煌，庄严绚丽，被誉为世界五大宫之一（北京故宫、法国凡尔赛宫、英国白金汉宫、美国白宫、俄罗斯克里姆林宫），并被联合国科教文组织列为“世界文化遗产”。

故宫的宫殿建筑是中国现存最大、最完整的古建筑群，总面积达72万多平方米，有殿宇宫室9999间半，被称为“殿宇之海”，气魄宏伟，极为壮观。无论是平面布局，立体效果，还是形式上的雄伟堂皇，都堪称无与伦比的杰作。

一条中轴贯通着整个故宫，这条中轴又在北京城的中轴线上。三大殿、后三宫、御花园都位于这条中轴线上。在中轴宫殿两旁，还对称分布着许多殿宇，也都宏伟华丽。这些宫殿可分为外朝和内廷两大部分。外朝以太和、中和、保和三大殿为中心，文华、武英殿为两翼。内廷以乾清宫、交泰殿、坤宁宫为中心，东西六宫为两翼，布局严谨有序。故宫的四个城角都有精巧玲珑的角楼，建造精巧美观。宫城周围环绕着高10米，长3400米的宫墙，墙外有52米宽的护城河。

现在，故宫的一些宫殿中设立了综合性的历史艺术馆、绘画馆、分类的陶瓷馆、青铜器馆、明清工艺美术馆、铭刻馆、玩具馆、文房四宝馆、玩物馆、珍宝馆、钟表馆和清代宫廷典章文物展览等，收藏有大量古代艺术珍品，据统计共达1052653件，占中国文物总数的六分之一，是中国收藏文物最丰富的博物馆，也是世界著名的古代文化艺术博物馆，其中很多文物是绝无仅有的无价国宝。

The Forbidden City ( also known officially as the Imperial Palace Museum ) was commissioned by the third Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yong Le. The palace was built between 1406 and 1420, but was burnt down, rebuilt, sacked and renovated countless times, so most of the architecture you can see today dates from the 1700’s and on wards. The Forbidden City was the seat of Imp erial power for 500 years, and is now a major tourist attraction in China. The total area of the complex is 183 acres, so it takes quite a while to walk through, especially if you want to have a close look at everything. All together there are 9,999 1/2 rooms in the Museum, not all of which can be visited.

The Imperial Palace is rectangle architecture. It is 961 meters long from south to north and 753 meters wide. There is city wall with 10 meters height around and the moat outside of city wall is 52 meters wide. The Imperial Palace has 4 gates. The Gate of Divine Prowess(Shenwumen) on the north, Merdian Gate(Wumen) on the south, the Eestern Flowry Gate (Donghuamen) on the east, and the Western Flowery Gate (Xinhuamen) on the south, the Eestem Folwery Gate (Donghuamen) on the east, and the Western Flowery Gate (xinhuamen) on the west. There are 4 corner towers at the 4 coners of city wall and the whole area is 724.250 square meters.

On the whole, the Imperial Palace is divided into two parts: front court and back chamber. Not only in the Imperial Palace, the monarch bed chamber of Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty is divided like so. Front court of the Imperial Palace mainly includes the 3 palaces of mid-way and the Hall of Lierary Glory (Wenhuadian), the Pailion of the Source of Lierature(Wenyuange), Shang Si Court, Arrow tower, Imperial Hospital, Imerial Teahouse. Qing Embassy and Cabinet Warehouse of east way. And also Yu Ying Palace. Yan An Palace. Intermal Affairs Mansion , Building Office and Nan Xun Palace of west way. Back bedchamber includes Back Three Palaces of mid way (the Palace of Heavenly Purity (Qianqinggong), the Palace of Union and Peace (Jiaotaidian) and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility (Kunninggong).

East Six Palaces, Feng Xian Palace, Ning Shou Palace and the Palace of Abstinence(Zhaigong) of east way, West Six Palace, the Hall of Mental Cultivalion (Yangxindian), Ci Ning Palace, Ning Shou Palace kang Palace and Shou An Palace of west way. So you can choose on route or two routes among mid you can choose one route or two routes among mid way (outside court, intermal court travel route), west way (intenal cout west travel route) and east way (intenal court east and extenal east travel route). If you are

non-group tourist, suggest you rent multi lingual guide record at