'Forbidden garden' to be renovated By Wang Shanshan (China Daily) Updated: 2006-03-02 05:41
The Qianlong Garden in the northeastern section of the Forbidden City will
receive a US$12 million face-lift by the Palace Museum, administrative organ of
the Forbidden City, and the New York-based World Monuments Fund, according to an
agreement signed in the palace yesterday by the two sides.
Experts involved will come from the Palace Museum, the Washington-based
Smithsonian Institute and a few private institutes in the United States, Bonnie
Burnham, president of the foundation, told China Daily.
Houghton Freeman and his wife from the US have already sent the first
donations.
A European Rococo mural depicting Qing royal concubines came into view, as
the red-lacquered door opened to the dilapidated Lodge of Jade Purity in the
still-forbidden part of the Forbidden City.
Created with perfect perspective techniques, which originated in Europe
during the Renaissance, the mural is one of the numerous treasures found in the
230-year-old, 6,400-square-metre Qianlong Garden, which will open to the public
in 2016 at the end of a 10-year conservation project undertaken by Chinese and
US experts.
"I was born in Beijing more than 80 years ago. After the Forbidden City
opened to the public in 1925, my family and I visited it many times, but have
never been to this part, so it is an honour for me to help show the garden to
the public," Burnham said in the Lodge of Ancient Trees next door to the garden,
where the signing ceremony was held.
The Qianlong Garden, which Emperor Qianlong (reign 1736-1795) had built for
his retirement in the early years of his enthronement, cost the royals 1.4
million taels of silver by its completion in 1776, according to Li Ji, executive
deputy director of the Palace Museum.
It has remained virtually untouched since that time, while other parts of the
Forbidden City underwent continuous changes throughout the Qing Dynasty
(1644-1911).
Besides the corridors, artificial hills and bridges placed artistically among
the buildings, the Qianlong Garden is unique in the interior decorations of its
buildings, according to Burnham of the American foundation.
The designers used the best traditional material and techniques, together
with tromp l'oeil paintings and perspective techniques from the West, to create
a rich and elegant imperial interior space, while exemplifying the cultural
differences between the East and the West.
(China Daily 03/02/2006 page2)
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