Heijō Palace (平城宮, Heijō-kyū^?) in Nara, was the Imperial Palace of Japan (710-784 AD), during most of the Nara period. The Palace was located in the north end of the capital city, Heijō-kyō. The remains of the palace, and the surrounding area, was established as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998 along with a number of other buildings and area, as the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara."

After Empress Genmei's succession to Imperial Throne in 707, there was much discussion about the transfer of the palace. A year later, a rescript was issued deciding on the move to Nara. In 710, the new capital officially takes over, but the completion of the palace had to wait further. (Written Heijō (平城) but also pronounced Nara at the time, the land gains its synonym, Nanto (南都, 'Southern Capital') as opposed to Kyoto, the capital in the North, centuries later.)

The city, and the palace grounds, was based largely on Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), the capital of China during the Tang Dynasty, which was contemporary to the time when Nara was capital of Japan. Chang'an was in turn, like many ancient East Asian cities, based on a complex system of beliefs & laws of geomancy. This dictated the grid system of streets, as well as the necessity for spiritually protective shrines or temples to be placed at particular cardinal directions around the city.

The Palace Site is a ca. 7,000 archeological site in Des Moines, Iowa with evidence for some of the oldest houses west of the Mississippi valley and the oldest human burial in Iowa.