Xihuamen

Xihuamen

Xihuamen, the palace museum building in Beijing and the west gate of the Forbidden City, was built in 1420. The west gate of Xihua is facing to the west, corresponding to the distance of Donghua gate. There is a dismounting stele outside the gate.

The shape of Xihua gate and Donghua gate are basically the same, with rectangular plane, red platform, white marble xumizuo, three coupons in the middle of the platform, the outer square and inner circle of the coupons hole, and nine vertical and nine horizontal nails. On the platform of the city, there is a tower with double eaves of yellow glazed tiles, a veranda top, and a base surrounded by white marble railings. The city tower is 5 rooms wide and 3 rooms deep. It is surrounded by corridors. Liang Fang painted ink lines and gold spirals. The gatehouse is used to place cotton armour and spike armour for the parade. The plaque of "xihuamen" under the Western eaves was originally written in Manchu, Mongolian and Han languages, but later it was reduced to Manchu and Han languages. After the revolution of 1911, only copper characters were left.

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The location of the Xihua gate is not in the middle of the wall on the west side of the Forbidden City, but on the side of the Meridian Gate, which has a lot to do with the overall planning of the palace city. The Forbidden City is divided into two parts: the outer court and the inner court. Wuying hall, Taihe gate and Wenhua hall form the horizontal axis running through the outer court. The east gate and the west gate are at both ends of the axis. Such a layout is not only convenient for the use of the court, but also can reduce the interference of personnel access to the inner court life. It is obvious that the east gate and the west gate are the important hubs connecting the imperial city and the palace city.

Out of xihuamen, it is facing the Royal Garden Xiyuan. In Qing Dynasty, emperors and empresses visited Xiyuan and Xijiao gardens, most of which came out of this gate. In 1751, the Empress Dowager's 60th birthday, and in 1790, the emperor's 80th birthday. Outside xihuamen, through Xizhimen and Haidian, there were lanterns and colorful lanterns along the way, and colorful music and opera were set up to celebrate Chongqing.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, in 1900, the Eight Allied forces attacked the capital. Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu left the palace from xihuamen and fled West in a hurry.

Address: in the Palace Museum, No.4 jingshanqian street, Dongcheng District, Beijing, east of the intersection of xihuamen street and Nanchang Street

Longitude: 116.392923

Latitude: 39.914825

Ticket information: no ticket required. Included in the Palace Museum ticket

Chinese PinYin : Xi Hua Men