The Gate of Supreme Harmony was built during the Yongle reign (1403-1424) of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Its current name was assigned in 1645 after the Qing regime moved its capital to Beijing and began its rule over China. The gate you now see was rebuilt in 1889 after it was destroyed by fire the year before. 

During the Ming dynasty, emperors held morning audience here and accepted memoranda from officials. In 1644 following the Manchu conquest, it was at this gate that the Shunzhi Emperor (r. 1644-1661) ascended the throne and issued the proclamation of Qing dynasty rule over the country.

Three sets of stairs lead up to the 3.4 meter high white marble terrace. 

In front of the Gate of Supreme Harmony are symbols of legitimacy to rule: four bronze ding tripods

a miniature stone pavilion and a stone case that stand for the documents and seals of imperial authority.

Completing the assemblage is the largest pair of cast-bronze lions in the palace which aimed to inspire awe and respect. 

The Inner Golden Water River bends like a bow in the square before the Gate of Supreme Harmony. Five marble bridges span the river, leading to the Gate. 

Because the central bridge was reserved for the emperor, its balustrades are decorated with patterns of dragons among clouds. 

while the outer pair was for civil officials and military officers of the third rank or higher.

Many artists toil their entire life without much recognition. But, through a combination of luck, graft, and inspiration, some attain near legendary status. Many in this latter group have had their work immortalized in museums dedicated solely to one artist.

Scroll on to discover the cream of the crop, from Bourdelle to Miro, who have been afforded the honor of a museum of their own...

Antoine Bourdelle was a prolific French sculptor and an important figure in Art Deco. As a student of Auguste Rodin and a teacher of Giacometti and Henri Matisse, he formed the link between the 19th and 20th centuries. His old studio has since become the Musée Bourdelle.

Located at 18, rue Antoine Bourdelle, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, the Musée provides an example of Parisian ateliers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It holds more than 500 works including marble, plaster, and bronze statues, paintings, pastels, and sketches.

The artist Salvador Dalí was born in the town of Figueres, in Catalonia, Spain. The Dalí Theatre and Museum is dedicated to the work of this singular Surrealist. It is also his final resting place - Dalí is buried in a crypt below the theatre's stage.

The heart of the museum is the town's theatre that Dalí visited as a child. It was where one of the first public exhibitions of Dalí's art was held. The theatre was destroyed in the Spanish Civil War, and in 1969 was rebuilt as a monument to the town's most famous son.

Since opening in 1973, the Van Gogh Museum has welcomed millions of visitors to see the outstanding art of its namesake. The museum holds, without a doubt, the best collection of his works in the world, many of which had never left the Gogh family.

Inside, rooms are ordered by theme and location. Telling a story of his movement across Europe, and through genres and styles of art. The building itself is the work of another Dutch master of art, Gerrit Rietveld, one of the principle artists of De Stijl.

Frida Kahlo was born in this house, La Casa Azul, in the Colonia del Carmen neighborhood of Coyoacán in Mexico City - and later, would die here. In 1957, her former husband Diego Rivera donated the home and its contents in order to turn it into a museum in Kahlo's honour.

The house is preserved much like it appeared in the 1950s, filled with Kahlo and Rivera's collection of contemporary Mexican folk art, pre-Hispanic artefacts, and personal effects, including the wheelchair and adjustable easel Kahlo used in her final years.

Oslo's Munch Museum opened its doors in 1963 to commemorate what would have been Munch's 100th birthday. Its collection consists of works and articles by Edvard Munch, which he donated to the municipality of Oslo upon his death, as well as art by his sister, Inger Munch.

In 2008, the City of Oslo promoted an architectural competition for a new Munch Museum in the area of Bjørvika. After some politics, construction started in 2015, and the new Munch/Stenersen museum is expected to be open by the end of 2020.

The Fundació Joan Miró crowns the hill of Montjuïc in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The building's rough, breton-brut concrete forms, designed by Josep Lluís Sert, make a lasting impression, and seem to protect the delicate, colourful artworks within.

Miro died in 1975, and the building was expanded in 1986 to create an auditorium as well as a library containing some of the 10,000 items in the Foundation and Miró's collection. It also hosts a space named Espai 13, dedicated to the work of young, experimental artists.

High in the arctic circle, Quttinirpaaq National Park on Ellesmere Island, Canada is one of the most remote parks on earth, it sees only around 50 visitors a year. The park takes its name from the Inuktitut language, Quttinirpaaq means 'top of the world'.

Ittoqqortoormiit was founded in 1925 by Ejnar Mikkelsen and 80 other Inuit settlers on Liverpool Land, east of Hurry Inlet, in northeastern Greenland. Today, about 450 people live here and it remains one of the most remote settlements on Earth.

Even further north is Longyearbyen on the island of Svalbard. In fact, this is the most northerly settlement on the planet. This mining town was totally destroyed during the Second World War and had to be rebuilt from scratch.

At the other end of the planet is the island of South Georgia. Lying in the South Atlantic Ocean, about 1300km from the Falkland Islands. There is no permanent population, and no regular transport, only a team of around 30 scientists and the occasional tourist party.

This Chilean village is one of only two civilian residential settlements on the continent - the others being temporary military or research stations. The village post office serves all Chilean bases on the continent, and its stamps are popular with collectors.

Finally, somewhere a little warmer. Easter Island is one of the most isolated islands on the planet, its nearest neighbours are are the small Juan Fernandez Islands, found 1,850km east. Despite this, Easter Island was once home to a flourishing civilisation.

This distant peak is famously the highest point on Earth above sea level. The world has changed a lot since it was first scaled in 1953 by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, today it's less of an obstacle and more of an attraction.

At the other end of the scale, the lowest point on Earth below sea level is... a sea. The shoreline of the Dead Sea is about 400 metres below the level of the Mediterranean, and as the landlocked sea evaporates, it gets lower every year.

This humble metal stake, sign, and flag mark the most southerly point on Earth - from here, everywhere is north. Roald Amundsen's expedition team reached this point on 14 December, 1911, only a few weeks before the doomed expedition of Robert Falcon Scott.