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The Forbidden City or Forbidden Palace, located at the exact centre of the ancient city of Beijing, was the imperial palace during the mid-Ming and the Qing dynasties. Known now as the Palace Museum, its extensive grounds cover 720,000 square meters, 800 buildings and 9,999 rooms. As such, it is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world, and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 as the "Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties". The imperial palace grounds are located directly to the north of Tiananmen Square and are accessible from the square via Tiananmen Gate. It is surrounded by a large area called the Imperial City.
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