The Forbidden City is shaped in a rectangle, It's 3,153 feet long from north to south and 2,470 feet wide from east to west, covering an area of 7,747,200 sq feet, that is approximately twice the size of the Vatican City in Rome. Today there are a total of 980 buildings existing in this City, with 8886 rooms. Some buildings were destroyed in fire accidents which occurred many times in the history of the Forbidden City. It is said that the palace complex originally had a total of 9999 rooms. A moat surrounds this City, which can be found on all of the four side of the rectangle of the Forbidden City. The moat is 3800 meters long in total by the four sides of the rectangle and 52 meters wide.
Today, the name is translated into "Purple Forbidden City", the word Purple symbolizing Imperial Power. It is also "Forbidden" because it was used as a Palace built only for the Emperor, royal family, etc --- common people were forbidden to enter. The most used name today is "Former Palace" as the City has been transformed into the "palace Museum" which is open to the public for sightseeing.
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