CultureEast Asia
The Forbidden City
Nine thousand rooms built around a north-facing axis
See it on the timeline →In depth
The axis expresses a cosmology: the emperor sits facing south, his back to the north, as heaven's centre point on Earth. The timber was floated from Sichuan a thousand kilometres away, and the stone blocks dragged in winter on ice roads made by pouring water from wells along the route.
For children
The imperial palace in Beijing has nearly nine thousand rooms and is the largest surviving palace complex in the world. Ordinary people could not enter — hence the name. The whole city is laid out symmetrically along one line from south to north.
Connects to
Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org