The Lodge of Retirement and the Qianlong Garden, the Forbidden City, Beijing

Emperor Qianlong’s Lodge of Retirement, an eighteenth-century jewelbox tucked away in the northeast quadrant of the Forbidden City, is the subject of a multimillion-dollar conservation initiative, undertaken by the World Monuments Fund in partnership with the Palace Museum, Beijing.

Commissioned by Qianlong in 1771, the two-story lodge was built for the Qing Dynasty emperor’s anticipated retirement in 1796. Qianlong vowed that “if the Heavens blessed him to be on the throne for 60 years,” he would retire out of respect so as not to outreign his beloved grandfather Kang’xi, China’s longest-reigning emperor.

The Lodge of Retirement, or Juan’qin’zhai (“being tired of diligent life when aged”), and its associated gardens and pavilions are located in the Qianlong District, a microcosm of the Forbidden City itself, laid out along a central north-south axis with spaces dedicated to ritual, living, and leisure. It is one of the largest areas in the Forbidden City to remain relatively untouched since imperial times.

Within the lodge, walls and screens are adorned with fine bamboo marquetry and white jade cartouches; trompe l’oeil paintings grace walls and ceilings; and imperial sitting areas are upholstered in embroidered silk. The murals exhibit a clear Western influence and use of perspective that is unique in the Forbidden City and in China. Expected completion date is 2008.

Qianlong Garden Restoration
The Lodge of Retirement, one of 24 buildings in the Garden, is the first step in a much larger project to restore the entire Qianlong Garden.

This 10-year $15-18 million endeavor is WMF's most comprehensive project and the Palace Museum's most significant partnership with an international organization for an historic site in the Forbidden City. The restoration will bring together resources and expertise from around the world in the fields of conservation, architecture, technical and craftsmanship training, and museum methodologies (planning, education, and interpretation).

WMF and the Palace Museum expect that their work will serve as a learning laboratory for restoration, planning, and site interpretation in other areas of the Forbidden City and perhaps elsewhere in China. The project will expand opportunities for international technical and cultural exchange among conservation and museum professionals in the U.S. and China. After the project is completed, visitors—who now have only limited access to part of the Garden complex—will be able to enjoy the historic interiors and the emperor’s private garden, which have never been fully open to the public.

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Interactive panoramas

View the entrance, hall, and theater of the Lodge of Retirement in an interactive panorama by Tito Dupret/World Heritage Tour.


Read more about the Lodge of Retirement and the Qianlong Garden in In Search of Lost Arts (pdf).