Branch of the Palace Museum to open in 2022

The Palace Museum,a 600 years' old Chinese imperial palace museum, is getting a new branch in Beijing's northernwestern district of Haidian.

Overview of the new branch Museum of the Palace Museum.[Photo:The Palace Museum]

The construction of the new branch museum commenced on Wednesday and is expected to open to the public in 2022, according to the Xinhua News.

The new museum covers 62 hectares,including 35,000 square meters of Exhibition Hall,20,000 square meters of repairing room, 23,000 square meters of storage room.

Shan Jixiang, the director of the Palace Museum, says the first stage of the construction will be finished in 2020, and that they expect the new museum to receive three million annual visits after it opens to the public.

The director says the Palace Museum only exhibits 2 percent of relic collections and the introduction of the new museum will significantly enlarge exhibition areas. In addition,the new museum will play a very important role in repairing relic collections.

Zhang Yu, Construction director of the new Museum, says the inspiration of the design was borrowed from the Forbidden City and the location of the new Museum in Beijing's northern district will link it to the Old Summer Palace and Summer Palace, forming a new tourism route in Beijing.

The new museum will be equipped with the world's leading facilities and serve as an academic hub for studying imperial ages.