Daming Palace Historical Museum

Xi'an, known anciently as Chang'an was the ancient capital of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). Daming Palace was the main royal palace. Today, most of it is in ruins, but it is open to the public for tours.
The site was discovered in 1957, and archaeological work was done from 1957-60. More work was done in the mid 1990s and a lot of renovation and excavation was done in 2010.
The name Daming Palace means Palace of Great Brilliance. Even the ruins showed why this would have been a fitting name.
As you walk through the gates, you come to the outer court, where all of the emperors official business was attended to. Here were three big halls, the Hanyuan Hall, Xuanzheng Hall, and Zichen Hall. These halls were known together as the Three Great Halls. Today, you can see ruins of the halls and the Hanyuan Hall has been rebuilt.
Next was the middle court where more business was conducted, and finally, the inner court which were the imperial residences.

Aqueduct 

Tomb unearthed in 2010

Hanyuan Hall

Replica of the Daming Palace complex

I love this picture. It is the original 1400 year old 

Hanyuan Hall wall with newly built buildings

in the background.

Old wall