Forbidden City to knock down all modern buildings at former imperial palace in Beijing
Huge area of recent structures to be torn down over the next three years to better preserve site’s ancient character, says Palace Museum director
The Forbidden City in Beijing is tearing down all the modern buildings and structures on the site of the former imperial palace to better preserve its ancient character, the director of the Palace Museum has revealed.
More than 14,800 square metres of prefabricated buildings and temporary structures that serve as warehouses and offices would be removed over the next three years, director Shan Jixiang told the Beijing Times.
“The Palace Museum is spending the next three years making sure the Forbidden City has only ancient architecture, without a single building of modern construction to affect its ambience,” Shan was quoted as saying on Sunday at a promotional event.
The greatest palace that ever was
“By doing so, [we] can hand over a magnificent and beautiful Forbidden City intact for the next 600 years,” he said.
The palace was opening up 76 per cent of its 160,000 square metres of ancient architecture to the public this year with three additional passages, up from 65 per cent last year and 52 per cent two years ago, Shan said.
Two of the new passages were along the eastern and western walls of the palace, connecting its southern and northern ends on both sides and adding two extra sightseeing routes to the existing central north-south axis, according to the Beijing Evening News.
The other new passage is a 361-metre glass-walled path cutting through the 13,000-square-metre studio for relic restoration, where visitors can observe the restorers fixing historic artefacts.