The Forbidden City is really interesting I think. Right in the heart of Beijing, China, the Forbidden City houses the ancient imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties (built 1406-1420).
For this installment of Matt’s Wikimapia Blog’s Fun Places I will be using the Wikimapia layer in Google Earth for a slightly different vantage than the normal Wkimapia view. Click the images for the larger versions (which are really helpful for this post).
Even from this high altitude the square Forbidden City can be seen in the middle of the city.
Here we see the city with its moat clearly visible. The bottom left of the image (the South) is the center of the city with the Tiananmen Gate and Tiananmen Square.
To the South of the Forbidden City is Tiananmen Square and contains the Mausoleum of Mao and the Monument to the People’s Heroes (whose shadow can clearly be seen).
This vantage is the overhead view (with North on the right) showing how the Forbidden city and Tiananmen Square are oriented in relation to each other.
This is the Southern most gate, the Meridian Gate, looking North into the city.
This is a close up view of the Northwest corner of the Forbidden City. Among other things, the Supreme Harmony Hall and the Heavenly Purity Palace can be seen.
The Palace Museum, as it is now called, covers some 720,000 square meters with 800 buildings and is surrounded by a 6 meter deep moat. You can visit the Forbidden City at Wikimapia. And visit the Wikipedia article for other interesting information and links.
