Forbidden City
A palace closed to commoners for almost 500 years
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The Yongle Emperor moved the capital to Beijing and finished his palace of 980 buildings in 1420. Legend says it has 9,999 rooms, one fewer than the palace of the Lord of Heaven; in fact it has fewer.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 15th century
Did you know
For almost 500 years the Forbidden City was home to 24 emperors. Completed in 1420, it housed 14 Ming and 10 Qing rulers until the last emperor abdicated in 1912. Share →
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 1429 Joan of Arc relieves Orléans — 9 years later
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1410 Battle of Grunwald — 10 years earlier
- c. 1411 Andrei Rublev's Trinity — 9 years earlier
Middle East
- 1402 Battle of Ankara — 18 years earlier
Americas
- c. 1438 Pachacuti founds the Inca Empire — 18 years later
Oceania
- c. 1445 Extinction of the moa — 25 years later
Alive at the time
- Johannes Gutenberg (aged 20)
- Joan of Arc (aged 8)
- Andrei Rublev (aged 60)
- Sigismund (aged 52)
- Zheng He (aged 49)
- Henry V (aged 34)
- Sejong the Great (aged 23)
- Charles VII (aged 17)
- Murad II (aged 16)
- Pachacuti (aged 2)