Palace Museum Exhibitions in Britain

The Palace Museum has maintained long-term friendly cooperation with many British museums and cultural institutions. It has sent exhibitions to the UK several times . Among them, China: The Three Emperors, 1662-1795, an exhibition co-hosted by the Palace Museum and the Royal Academy of Arts in 2005, drew the greatest attention as the largest and highest-level overseas exhibition of treasures in the Palace Museum since 1949.

The exhibition featured about 400 pieces of treasures from the reigns of Emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, ranging from calligraphy and painting to jade, bronze, porcelain, lacquerware, embroidery, furniture, and Western instruments. Of these relics, 95 percent were from the Palace Museum, and many had never before been exhibited abroad. The exhibition vividly displayed the lives and cultural achievements of the three Qing emperors, reflecting the political, religious, military, cultural, and artistic prosperity of this period.

As early as 1935, the Palace Museum selected more than 700 pieces of relics to participate in the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London, which was organized by the Royal Academy of Arts. Back then, the exhibition attracted more than 400,000 visitors from Germany, Italy, France, and other countries, marking an important milestone for Chinese culture going global.

In 2024, the Palace Museum joined hands with the Science Museum of Britain to hold the exhibition Zimingzhong: Clockwork Treasures from China's Forbidden City, which displayed 23 clocks from the Palace Museum in the UK for the first time, becoming another highlight of China-UK cultural exchange.

1935 年在倫敦皇家藝術學院舉行的開箱儀式

The unpacking ceremony of Palace Museum relics sent to the Royal Academy of Arts in Britain for an exhibition in 1935.

赴英交流展

故宮博物院與英國文博機構長期保持友好合作，數次赴英國舉辦展覽。其中，2005年與英國皇家藝術學院聯合舉辦的“盛世華章”展最受矚目，是1949年以來故宮博物院展出規模最大、珍品級別最高的赴外展覽。

該展覽精選中國清代康熙、雍正、乾隆時期約400件珍品，涵蓋書畫、玉器、青銅器、瓷器、漆器、織繡、家具、西洋儀器等類別，95%來自故宮博物院，其中不少是首次亮相海外。展覽生動展現了三位清代皇帝的生平偉業與文化修養，再現了這一時期政治、宗教、軍事、文化、藝術的輝煌盛況。早在1935年，故宮博物院就曾選送700余件文物參加倫敦中國藝術國際博覽會，而展廳就設在英國皇家藝術學院。當時博覽會吸引了來自德國、意大利、法國等國40余萬觀眾，是中華文化走向世界的重要里程碑。

2024年，故宮博物院與英國科學博物館合作舉辦“凝時聚珍”展，首次在英國展出23件故宮鐘表，成為中英文化交流的又一亮點。