The Palace Museum, formerly known as the Forbidden City, is located in the imperial palace of the consecutive Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911). Situated in the center of the central axis of Beijing, it covers an area of 720,000 square meters, with a floor space of about 150,000 square meters. There are more than 70 palaces of different sizes and over 9,000 rooms. As one of the largest and best-preserved ancient wooden buildings in the world, it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.