An overview of the Palace Museum. (Photo/The official Weibo account of china.cnr.cn)
The research protection project of Yangxin Dian, which features research into the maintenance process itself, is the first attempt by the Palace Museum to practice ancient architecture repair. According to Shan, the previous maintenance projects were mostly rescue repair, which can damage the relics. Shan also revealed from now on, the 1,200 ancient architecture sites in the Forbidden City will be all maintained in a protective fashion.
The renovation of Yangxin Dian is part of an overall renovation project of the Palace Museum, the largest scale since 1911. It is scheduled to finish in 2020 when the Forbidden City welcomes its 600th birthday. There will be no grand ceremonies — only more exhibitions, open areas and activities for visitors to participate then, Shan said.
