Ming Palace

Zhu Yuanzhang, who became the founder and first Emperor of the Ming dynasty, began building a palace in what was then known as Jiankang in 1367.

For the next few years, few changes were made to the palace in Nanjing as the Emperor focused on building the "middle capital", located in his home town of Fengyang.

In 1373 the Hongwu Emperor shifted his focus back to Nanjing, with a substantial program of expansion and refurbishment of the palace which was completed in 1375.

Under the Qing dynasty, the former imperial sector of Nanjing was garrisoned by the Manchu armies of the Eight Banners, with the palace itself becoming the yamen of two military commands.

Throughout the Qing dynasty, the Ming palace was gradually demolished, with stone and carvings taken away to be used as building material and decorative elements on other projects.

When the Taiping Revolution was defeated, the Qing troops razed the new palace in 1864, and built new traditional-style government buildings on that site.

The Republic of China (1912-49) established Nanjing as its capital in 1928, and transformed one of the Qing buildings into the Presidential Palace.

The inner and outer bridges of the Golden Water, which lie on the main north–south axis just inside and just outside the front gate respectively, survive.

Many of the remaining stone carvings and architectural components of the palace have been moved to the latter park and are arranged for display.