The Forbidden City

Inside the Court of China's Emperors

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While China's last emperors called it home, their subjects called it… The Forbidden City.

Peer through the massive gates and gain access into the heart of the world's largest imperial palace, courtesy of a stunning new exhibition opening spring 2014!

The Forbidden City: Inside the Court of China's Emperors ushers you into the City's most private quarters, offering a tantalizing glimpse into the lives of the people who lived within the very imposing, very private, imperial enclave. Through intimate encounters with the luxurious objects they used each day and official accounts of their lives, you will meet the emperors, their families, court officials, concubines, and eunuchs - all those who paid a price to live within the Forbidden City's walls.

Built as the official imperial residence for China's emperors during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties, the Imperial Palace, or the Forbidden City, was strictly off limits to all but the Emperor, his family, and thousands of servants. With approximately 980 buildings containing 8,700 rooms (give or take a few), it was a complex of epic proportions and epic drama.

Approximately 250 rare objects will travel to the ROM from Beijing's Palace Museum, the name given to the Forbidden City in 1925, one year following the exile of the Last Emperor, Pu Yi. Many of these objects are Chinese national treasures never before seen in North America, and several have never travelled outside the walls of The Forbidden City.

Exquisite gold, silver and jade objects, paintings, textiles and stunning imperial furnishings comprise the extraordinary collection which, coupled with the ROM's exceptional storytelling abilities, reveal the sumptuous, dramatic world of later imperial life in China.