(Yicai Global) Feb. 19 -- Beijing's Palace Museum, perhaps better known to the outside world as the Forbidden City, will stay open to visitors for the first time after dark in celebration of the Lantern Festival. 

The 94-year-old museum has never before welcomed guests to observe the traditional Lantern Festival at night. Free tickets for the rare treat scheduled for tonight and tomorrow were snapped up within minutes. The museum's website even crashed due to the large numbers visiting it.

Marking the end of Chinese New Year, the Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the first month each lunar new year and involves dragon dances, fireworks, and paper lanterns.

Editor: Emmi Laine