The 600-year-old Forbidden City is striving to become one of the
world's top museums.
Duan Yong, foreign affairs director with the Palace Museum, said
during the 2006 Sino-American Museum Forum that the Museum will try
to join the Louvre Museum, the Metropolitan Museum, the State
Hermitage Museum, and the British Museum as one of the top 5
museums in the world.
One of China's best known icons and most popular tourist
attractions, the Forbidden City was listed by UNESCO as a World
Cultural Heritage Site in 1987.
The Forbidden City, home to 24 emperors of the country's feudal
Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, became a museum in
1925.
"But most foreigners only know the name Forbidden City, instead
of Palace Museum," said Li Ji, deputy curator of the museum.
"The Forbidden City is not only a monument to past glory, but
also a museum to showcase Chinese art and culture," Li said.
"The Palace Museum meets the basic requirements to become one of
the world's top museums," Duan said at the 2-day forum sponsored by
the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China and the New
York-based Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
It houses a collection of over 1.5 million artifacts, mainly
from the ancient imperial court.
"We receive 7 million to 8 million tourists every year, with one
sixth of them from overseas," Duan said.
The museum now provides audio guide equipment in 11 foreign
languages, and the service will be extended to cover 40 foreign
languages in 2008, according to Duan.
"We are equipped with the most advanced technologies, and we
have built a showroom inside the museum that meets the highest art
conservation standards," Duan said.
At present, the Forbidden City is undergoing the largest scale
overhaul in its history.
However, Duan admitted that the museum still lags behind the
world's other top museums in terms of management and image
building.
"We need modern museum management expertise and professionals in
this field," Duan said.
Thanks to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, more Chinese curators
will attend study programs in the United States in the next two
years.
The Palace Museum has also strengthened exhibition cooperation
with the other famous museums such as the Louvre and the British
Museum in order to promote inter-cultural exchange and establish a
better image in the world, Duan said.
In 2005 the Palace Museum hosted the "Louis XIV: the Sun
King-Treasures" exhibition from the Chateau de Versailles as well
as a Swedish collection of Chinese ceramics. In September this
year, it opened its doors to the "Treasures from the Kremlin"
exhibition.
(Xinhua News Agency October 20, 2006)
