Donghuamen Subdistrict, People's Republic of China

The Palace Museum

Donghuamen Subdistrict, People's Republic of China

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

Strollie cannot guarantee access — always check before you travel.

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The Palace Museum, housed in the Forbidden City at the heart of Beijing, is a vast national museum complex spanning 720,000 square metres and comprising 980 buildings constructed between 1406 and 1420. Built in traditional Chinese architectural style, it preserves the imperial palaces of the Ming and Qing dynasties and opened to the public in 1925 following the eviction of the last emperor, Puyi, in 1924. The museum holds over 1.8 million artworks, predominantly from the imperial collections of these two dynasties, with its holdings expanded throughout the 20th century through acquisitions, transfers, and archaeological discoveries. Since 2012, it has averaged approximately 15 million visitors annually, making it the world's most-visited museum; to manage this volume and protect the structures, daily visitor numbers have been capped at 80,000 since 2015.