'Hospital' for relics to open to public

Visitors to the Palace Museum in Beijing, also known as the Forbidden City, will soon be able to see firsthand how ancient treasures are restored.

The museum's cultural relic restoration center, known informally as the "cultural relics hospital", will open to the public on Dec 26, museum director Shan Jixiang said recently. The center, which Shan said might be the world's largest at 13,000 square meters, will also be used as an exhibition center.

Modern scientific methods are important for restoring collections, and the museum has been equipped with leading facilities, he said. The museum has co-founded a mural restoration lab with Italy and is cooperating with Greece to set up a protection lab for stone carvings.