Project

The Qianlong Garden in the Forbidden City was designed as a private, two-acre garden retreat with four courtyards, elaborate rockeries, and some 27 pavilions and structures. The garden was largely abandoned after the last emperor left the Forbidden City in 1924 and its buildings were never opened to the public.

The Qianlong Garden in the Forbidden City was designed as a private, two-acre garden retreat with four courtyards, elaborate rockeries, and some 27 pavilions and structures. The garden was largely abandoned after the last emperor left the Forbidden City in 1924 and its buildings were never opened to the public.

The conservation agenda involves re-creating long-lost materials and reviving traditional craftsmanship that were used to construct the site but that are no longer readily available in modern China, and combining these traditions with modern scientific conservation techniques and approaches. It also includes a craftsmanship training program and development of new interpretation approaches for the site. The site itself is of great historic, artistic, and cultural value, but it also represents an opportunity for the Palace Museum to expand its interpretation of imperial life in the context of the Forbidden City to the public.