National Palace Museum located in the center of Beijing, formerly known as the Forbidden City. Is the Ming and Qing imperial palace of two generations, unparalleled masterpieces of ancient architecture, it was the largest remaining in the world and the most complete ancient buildings. Hailed as the world's first top-five Palace (Beijing Forbidden City, the Palace of Versailles, France, the United Kingdom Buckingham Palace, the White House, the Russian Kremlin). The Forbidden City 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 Imperial 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. Opening Hours: 08:30 to 16:20 (Oct. 16 to Apr.15) 08:30 to 17:00 (Apr. 16 to Oct. 15)