First built in 1419, the gateway consisted of a gatehouse proper and an archery tower. Today the archery tower and the gatehouse survive - though not in the form originally built. Behind (that is, to the North of) the Qianmen once stood the Gate of China, followed by the present Tiananmen, and the Meridian Gate, which is the front entrance to the Forbidden City.
Because of its grandeur and unique design, the Qianmen was long seen as the symbol of old Beijing.

