The Palace Museum was established in 1925 as a large comprehensive museum built upon the foundation of the imperial palaces of the Ming and Qing dynasties and their collections. The Forbidden City was designated by the State Council as one of the first batch of "Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Leve" in 1961, inscribed by UNESCO on the "World Heritage List" in 1987, and rated as a National 5A-Level Tourist Attraction in 2007. The Palace Museum was rated as one of the first batch of National First-Class Museums in 2008.

The Palace Museum houses the largest and best-preserved ensemble of ancient palace architecture extant in China. It is an important bearer of China's five-thousand-year civilization, a convergence of fine traditional Chinese culture, and a historical witness to the exchange and integration of diverse cultures.