The National Museum of China, the grand building on
the east side of Tian'anmen Square in downtown Beijing, closed on
Wednesday for a three-year overhaul that will transform it into the
world's largest art and history museum.
"The museum's floor space will be expanded from the current
65,000 square meters to 192,000 square meters, which will be the
world's most spacious," said a source with the museum.
"It does not have enough display and storage space, and some
exhibition halls are becoming less safe due to old age," the source
said, adding that the museum can't ensure the safe keeping of its
relics as standards are below what is expected of a top-level state
museum.
"When it re-opens, the displays, security measures, and services
will all be equal to other world-class museums," the source
said.
The National Museum, formerly called the Museum of the Chinese
Revolution, was built in 1959. It houses hundreds of thousands of
cultural relics from different periods of China's 5,000-year
history.
The source explained that most of the precious relics will be
stored at a special site during the renovations.
Some of relics will be displayed at the Capital Museum of China
during the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, the source
added.
Construction work is scheduled to begin in April.
(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2007)
