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(CNN) -- When the last emperor of China fled Beijing's Forbidden City in 1924, the doors closed on one of its greatest treasures: the Qianlong Garden.

A secluded compound of pavilions and gardens built in the 1770s for the retirement of the Qianlong Emperor, it housed some of the most extravagant interiors found anywhere in the imperial palace complex.

As other areas were opened up to tourists, the garden remained mothballed for almost 100 years, its exquisite design and decorative treasures staying relatively unaltered since the 18th century.

Conservation of the Qianlong Garden began in 2002 as a joint project between the Palace Museum and the World Monuments Fund (WMF), and will be completed in 2019. It is the largest conservation project in the WMF's history, with just one of the garden's 27 buildings -- the aptly named Studio of Exhaustion from Diligent Service -- restored so far.