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The Palace Museum - Hall for Ancestral Worship / The Clock Gallery

Fengxian Hall

Fengxian Hall was originally a family shrine in the Forbidden City, where the emperor worshipped his ancestors. Nowadays, the Fengxian Hall has been transformed into a clock and watch gallery within the Forbidden City, displaying over a hundred precious and exquisite clocks and watches from the collection of the Palace Museum.

From Qianqingmen Square 乾清门广场, the boundary between the Outer Court and the Inner Court of the Forbidden City, all the way to the east, through the Jingyun Gate 景运门, we can see the Forbidden City’s royal family shrine: the Hall for Ancestral Worship (Fengxian Hall 奉先殿).

Fengxian Hall is a place to worship the ancestors of the dynasty within the imperial palace, unlike the other areas, the Fengxian Hall area only has two main halls, in an H-shaped structure, without the surrounding buildings such as wing halls and corridors. The double-eaved hip-and-gable roof of Fengxian Hall indicates that it is one of the highest-ranked buildings in the Forbidden City.

The Fengxian Hall is now transformed into The Clock Gallery of the Palace Museum, displaying more than a hundred clocks and watches of different periods, materials and techniques. Some were built by the Qing Palace itself, such as A Huge Dripping Copper Pot and Hardwood Carved Building-Style Chiming Clock, moreover, were gifts to the Qing government from Western countries such as Britain and France. There is a copper gilt calligraphy clock with a small robot that can write Chinese characters with a brush, the calligraphy can be considered a masterpiece even in today’s eyes.

Clocks and watches are only a small part of the vast collection of treasures in the Forbidden City. Let’s go to the Ningshou Palace 宁寿宫, Palace of Tranquil Longevity, which is the easternmost part of the Forbidden City, and take a look at some of the treasures in the Palace Museum:

The Palace Museum - Palace of Tranquil Longevity Area / The Treasure Gallery

Qianlong's Ningshou Palace

The Ningshou Palace area is located on the Outer East Road of the Inner Court of the Forbidden City, where the Empress Dowager and Empress Dowager spent their twilight years. It is also known as the "Mini Forbidden City", and is now the treasure gallery of the Palace Museum.