New Underground Warehouse for Forbidden City

2002/08/01

The Palace Museum has moved about 600,000 artifacts into a vast underground warehouse over the past three years, according to sources with the museum, reported Xinhua News Agency. The repository, the first ever built in China for protecting valuable artifacts, is a three-floor concrete structure to protect the treasures from flooding and damp and, hopefully, during wars and earthquakes. It is equipped with state-of-the-art fire-control and security systems, air-conditioning and modern systems for transferring the artifacts.

Probably better known as the Forbidden City, the museum accommodated dozens of emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties from the 14th to 20th centuries, as well as priceless Chinese porcelain and pottery, paintings, calligraphic works, jewelry, furniture, clocks, exquisite toys and other items.



	Article featured in Beijing This Month, August 2002 Publication sponsored by Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Tourism