The ruins of large palace buildings dating back around 590 years to the early Ming Dynasty have been unearthed in the Forbidden City in Beijing, China.

The ruins were discovered just outside the palace complex that housed generations of Chinese emperor's mothers, known as the Cining Palace.

It is the first time that ruins from that period have been found in the Forbidden City. Archaeologists uncovered them during a dig at the Changxin gate of the Forbidden City.

Ruins of early Ming Dynasty palace buildings have been uncovered in the Forbidden City. They include wall foundations that appear to have been built on top of a wooden platform (pictured), which experts say suggests the early buildings in the Palace had been built to last the test of time

THE FORBIDDEN CITY Located in the centre of Beijing, the Forbidden City was the ceremonial and political focal point in China for almost 500 years. Construction began in 1406 before it was completed in 1420. It served as the Imperial Palace to the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty until imperial rule was ended in 1912. Covering more than 180 acres, it is now listed as a World Heritage site and features the largest collection of ancient wooden buildings in the world. It draws around 80,000 visitors a day and is one of the world's most popular tourist sites. Advertisement

The ruins, which include a wall base and foundations, reveal the palace at the time may have been built on top of wooden supports to help ensure it remained stable on the soft sandy round.

The ruins have been resealed by workers after being examined by experts.

Shan Jixiang, curator of the Palace Museum at the Forbidden City, said it would build glass floors over the ruins to show them to the public.

He said it would present a more 'multi-dimensional' aspect of the palace.

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1912.

Located in the centre of Beijing, it was the ceremonial and political focal point of the country for almost 500 years until the collapse of Chinese imperial rule.

About nine feet of brick work supported by rammed earth walls were found to have been built on wooden platforms (pictured). The ruins are through to date back to when the Forbidden City were first being built

The ruins (pictured) are thought to form part of a large palace that once stood on the spot where the Cining Palace complex, that housed the mother's of the Chinese emperors

The ruins may now be displayed to the public by building a glass floor over the Ming Dynasty ruins

It is now listed as a World Heritage site and features the largest collection of ancient wooden buildings in the world.

The Cining Palace complex sits in the western part of the Forbidden City and was only opened to the public last year.

Construction on the Forbidden City, which covers 180 acres, began in 1406 and took 14 years to complete.

The 26 feet high wallswere constructed using rammed earth – where damp soil is packed into a supporting wooden frame – and then faced with three layers of brickwork on both sides.

During the excavation at the Changxin gate, archaeologists found 30cm of rammed earth of what remains of one of the walls created during the early period of the Forbidden City.

The foundations were around 10 feet deep and features 20 layers of bricks specially created for the construction of the Forbidden City.

But the archaeologists also found a wooden platform had been built to support the brick foundations alongside traces of two footing holes left by construction workers, according to China National Radio.

Using a widely used metaphor for shoddy construction work, Mr Shan said: 'From [the structure of] the pit, [we can see that] the Forbidden City was no "tofu-dreg" project.'

Last year, experts announced the discovery of foundations for 16 huge pillars beneath the garden of the Cining Palace.

The treasures from the Hall of Cultivation in the Forbidden City are being carefully photographed (pictured) and then moved ahead of a restoration project that aims to renovate the hall using an 'ancient style'

Experts are removing 1,890 treasured artefacts, cinluging lamps (pictured), jade objects and paintings from the Hall of Mental Cultivation ahead of a four year rennovation project

Mr Shan said the closeness of the two excavation sites suggested they may have belonged to a huge palace destroyed in the late Ming era.

Meanwhile, a hall in the inner courtyard of the Forbidden City, once used as the living quarters of several Qing emperors, is to undergo a four-year renovation.

In all 1,890 treasured artefacts, including jade, paintings, lamps and furniture displayed in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, are being moved out while the work is carried out.