Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is the largest complex of intact historical buildings in the world, including 800 buildings with 9,000 rooms. This is a quiet oasis located in the heart of the bustling city of China and Beijing. Today called the palace ( Gu gong ) after the name before the Forbidden City ( Zi jin cheng ) by banning civilians unless they are allowed.

The principle of Chinese construction relates these works to China's ancient past. The work is an example of traditional Chinese architectural illustration, with a wooden frame for roof weight support, built using a complex bearing system, the roof protruding from the wall, and a sloping roof. , decorative tile roofs, brick inserts and stones on walls.

Panorama of the Forbidden City illustrates a vast area and
countless separate buildings have opaque gold tile roofs and red walls.

For more than 500 years, from the time of completion in 1421 to 1925, when becoming a museum, the Forbidden City was both the administrative center of the Government, and the residence of 24 Ming and Qing emperors. The last emperor of China, Aisin Gioro Pho Nghi lived here until the age of five as emperor and was confined to the Forbidden City one more time after establishing the Republic in 1911. but eventually forced by commanders to run to Tianjin in 1924. The following year, Forbidden City became a museum.

Today is the largest museum in the world, belonging to the most populous country in the world, which holds China's most important art treasures, antiques and paintings, every year up to 10 million visitor.In 1987, Unesco announced the Forbidden City is one of the world cultural heritage.

Construction history

The construction started in 1406 , following the orders of Emperor Yongle, Zhy Di - a powerful general who was also a cunning political strategy, appropriating the throne from his nephew's hands with fake evidence in the act. bloody civil war. At first, the Yongle emperor retained the existing capital in Nanjing, but soon realized that there was a possibility that the South would not be loyal, so he had to move the capital to the domain. The gate is covered with ceramic color tiles, and it has Chinese characters and Manchu writing. North to Beijing near its own power base. The new palace built on the site of the royal palace of the former Yuan was destroyed by the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty - Hongwu while conquering the Mongols.

The work seen today is largely dated to the 15th century . Because the building is primarily made of wood, several devastating fires overhauled during the 600-year history of the Forbidden City. For example, the Qianlong emperor (circa 1736-1796) renovated, rebuilt and expanded the Forbidden City, built more magnificent parks and the Nine Dragon Palace, 27.5m x 5.5m long; decorated with colored ceramic tiles. His son also succeeded him, Gia Khanh emperor from 1797 to 1799, also rebuilt three main halls after being burned.

Choose the direction and color

Following the principle of selecting traditional Chinese architecture.Forbidden City is arranged to be more or less balanced on the North-South axis . Jing shan , formed from the number of excavated soil from a wide moat surrounding the royal palace complex, lies to the north while Tiananmen Square is in the south. The campus area is equivalent to more than 100 football fields. Basically formed from a series of works arranged in the yard divided into 2 main parts: The palace in front faces south ( Tien Trieu ), and the inner palace ( In the hall ) turns north.

The pre-imperial court consists of 3 halls built on 3-floor marble, used in military and civil ceremonies as well as audience. The inner hall revolves around three large palaces on a single floor of the king's residence, the other palaces have less solemn facilities for royalty as well as warehouses, libraries, parks and temples. temple to worship royal family.

Water is supplied from a reservoir located in the northwest, then south of the complex, where there is a beautiful carved marble bridge across. Protecting the work of the Forbidden City is a large moat and thick walls made of clay, with a large arched gate in the main directions and high watchtower located at four corners.

Across a vast space, Thai Hoa Palace is located at the top of two waves of marble steps and a pathway to carry a guarded king's palanquin with carved in the middle.

Open-air space emphasizes scale construction, when visitors go from the south to the north, while the low-level buildings on the sides emphasize the grandeur of the three reception halls in the palace. The first of these is the Taihedian ( Taihedian ), which is the largest and most impressive mansion in the complex, occupying an area of ​​2,730m2 equivalent to 9 tennis courts, measuring 64m wide x 37m in the afternoon. long. The size, shape, decoration and interior furniture of the electricity all create a sense of authority and superiority of the emperor that encompasses all others being summoned in rituals to adulthood. , announce the results of civil examinations and welcome newly appointed officials.

During the Qing Dynasty (1368 - 1644) the Forbidden City was used during the three main festivals :

Pattern on Cuu Long Feng Shui.

Tet, King's Birthday and Dong Chi Day. For special occasions, in the Thai courtyard, there are up to 100,000 people, including soldiers wearing military uniforms and numerous court musicians. At such times, the atmosphere like that mixed with incense and incense is burned in large incense burners. Behind this electricity, the middle electric, calling the Electric Neutral ( Zhonghe dian ) used to prepare before the main rituals. The last administrative work, Electric Storm ( Baohe dian ) is the place to hold a feast and for the examiners to sit exams on national exams, if passed, it will ensure a favorable career. in the national mandarin regime.

From this electricity, there are 2 stairs with a slope right in the middle, carved 9 dragons that are chasing the beads in the bouncing cloud. The emperor was carried away by palanquin people above the symbol of authority and luck. Ramps manipulated from Fangsan granite, weighing about 200-250 tons. The installation demonstrates that the emperor has his resources and construction team available. It takes 20,000 people in 28 days to drag this rock over 48km to the installation location. Scholars say that this work was carried out in the winter because at that time it was possible to make a walk on the ice to skate.

Actual data:

1. Area: 250,000m ²
2. Trench width: 54m
3. Wall height: 10m
4. Number of works: 800
5. Number of rooms: 9,000
6. Manpower: estimated 1,000,000

In addition to the official halls there are 3 other bows . The first bow, Qian qing gong , was the official residence of the Ming emperor. Here, in 1542, the emperor Detail of opaque yellow tile roof in the Forbidden City of Khanh Hoa is not popular among people after being assassinated by a group of women who tried to strangle him but failed because of the unfortunate knots. Once betrayed, all were executed. The second palace is the Electric Era ( Jiao tai dian ) used to receive the birthday wishes of the rituals and the princess, which also holds 25 kings of the king since 1746. Wise bow ( Kunning gong ) is the bedroom of the Ming emperors. The queen of the Ming emperor eventually committed suicide here when the Manchu army was approaching. Later in the Thanh Dynasty, this place used to make a flower room for the first 3 nights after the wedding. On the two sides of this room there are the Chinese continent and the western bow, where the pilots and other members of the royal family live.

Contrary to the contemporary palaces built in the West, the Forbidden City is unbelievably colorful when viewed from the outside, red walls, purple columns, curved roofs upside-down decorated with yellow ceramic tiles filled with many decorative drawings. Clay tiles with a semicircular roof curved, adapted to double bamboo shoots, alternating roofs with negative position ( back tile ) ( upside tiles ). Tile covered the ends of the slope in the form of a long fish with the hope of blocking. The colors on the roof, walls and columns are further enhanced by light gray marble and bricks used to line the feet between buildings.

The lavish feast of the court is always held regularly in the Forbidden City . In 1796, more than 5,000 guests aged 60 and over were invited to serve as guests with 800 tables to celebrate the ceremony of giving power from King Qianlong to Gia Khanh emperor.

Recreating the Forbidden City represents the main elements.

"None of our imperial cities has been devised and designed with such brilliant display that is always overwhelming, especially the display to convey a majestic, imposing impression. of the emperor " - Pierre Loti, 1902.