The Ceremonial Hall Taihedian, The Hall of Supreme Harmony, in the Forbidden City (more accurately called The Palace Museum). Located in the middle of Beijing, The Forbidden City was built between 1406 and 1420 and it was the Chinese Imperial palace from the mid-Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) to the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911). It's pretty big: the complex consists of 800 buildings with 8,886 rooms and covers 720,000 square metres. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world. It was called the Forbidden City because it was forbidden for the average citizen to even approach the walls of the city in the days of the various dynasties. No such issues nowadays however as anyone can wander around. The Forbidden City, Beijing, China. August 25th, 2004