With the recent re-opening of the National Museum of China on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the country now boasts the second-largest museum in the world, reports Routard.
After four years of renovation, the museum re-opened with 28 new exhibition halls – more than tripling the previous exhibition space – as well as state of the art exhibition facilities and storage.
The total floor space of nearly 191,900 square meters will be home to a collection of more than one million national treasures. At 210,000 sq m, only the Louvre Museum in Paris is larger.
The mission of the museum, directed by the Ministry of Culture, is to educate about the arts and history of China. Two regular exhibitions are currently on display: Ancient China, and the Road to Revival. Together they comprise more than 1150 relics, representing almost 170 years since the Opium War.
The newest exhibition, Art of Enlightenment, is based on a cultural exchange between China and Europe that dates back to the eighteenth century.
Eight to ten million people visit the National Museum of China annually; admission is free.