Beijing's Forbidden City, also known as the Palace Museum, houses more than a million items from the Ming and Qing dynasties in a sprawling complex of 980 buildings, but it is running out of space.
The museum's director, Dr Shan Jixiang, said it would expand beyond the city's ancient crimson walls, with plans to open an educational institute downtown and a conservation and repair centre in Haidian district.
Officials hoped the new space might also draw tourists and relieve the seasonal swells at the Forbidden City, the Beijing Times quoted Shan as saying.
The Palace Museum Institute would offer classes on the study of antiquities and conservation, Shan said. It would be run as a non-profit organisation and host experts on understanding and authenticating relics.
The institute will be located at the Beijing International Vocational Education School and have 30 classrooms and lecture halls, among other teaching facilities. More information would be released in the coming days, he said.
The museum also planned to build a 470,000 square metre extension "campus" in Haidian, Shan said. It would serve as both a centre for conservation and repair for the museum's bigger items such as furniture, carpets and large paintings.