Forbidden Gardens

Location: 23500 Franz Road, Katy
Time: 10am-5pm Fri-Sun

Forbidden Gardens has to be the most unexpected tourist destination in the Houston area. Out on the Katy prairie, you encounter a unique outdoor museum of Chinese antiquity. The first thing that comes to mind is, “Gee, that’s kind of strange,” but once you see the detail and the care that has gone into building and maintaining this museum, you are glad that someone had this vision for a mini-Forbidden City.

The first exhibit that you notice is the amazing terra-cotta army of Emperor Qin. It was considered the Eighth Wonder of the World by the people who discovered it in 1974. Apparently, the emperor was concerned about his tomb needing protection, so he ordered a full army of life-size soldiers to be built of clay.

The Forbidden Gardens exhibit has 6,000 1/3 size terra-cotta soldiers. That is an amazing sight! The museum also has a 40,000 square foot replica of Beijing’s Forbidden City complex on a 1/20 scale.

There are miniature landscapes, fountains, and buildings rendered in exquisite detail. This is probably interesting to older kids, but your youngest ones might get bored as they will not be allowed to run around and climb on the exhibits.