After three years and three million dollars, a private suite of rooms, known as the 倦勤斋 (Studio for Retirement from Diligent Service) built for The Qianlong Emperor, have been restored and will open to the public next year. ** The structure, part of the retirement palace in the Northeast section of the Forbidden City, includes a bedroom, throne room, antechamber, and private theater. The restoration project took great care to recreate, in some cases from scratch, the refined interior decor of the rooms.
It’s one of the paradoxes of the Forbidden City. The rooms, halls, and courtyards of the Palace Museum are minimally decorated, and while the external structures have, in some cases, undergone impressive renovations, the interiors are usually drab affairs or else used as exhibit rooms, and give little indication of the opulence of centuries past. Qing imperial rule had a strong performative quality to it, and the backdrop–setting a stage of power and grandeur–was an integral part of this.
For those interested in a sneak peek, during the Olympics Matt Lauer of the Today Show got a preview of the rooms under renovation.
The effort was undertaken as part of an ongoing joint project between the Palace Museum and the World Monuments Fund. If subsequent renovations are anything like this one, the project should greatly enhance the appeal, as well as the educational value, of the Forbidden City.
——
* Any other Pink Floyd fans out there? (relevant lyric at 0:42)
**The article gives some detail on the project, but the historical background in the piece was just plain awful. The problems of the 19th century begin during the Qianlong reign (Soulstealers, anyone?), he may have had his moments of victory, but by the time of his retirement the empire was saddled with corrupt ministers, incompetent generals, and a major rebellion.
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment