4 mln pounds restoration for London's Great Pagoda

The Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens, London [Photo: sohu.com]

London's Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens is set to receive a £4 million restoration, thanks to a donation by a Chinese company.

The work, funded by Sanpower Group, will return the landmark to its original 18th Century appearance. It will include the replacement of 200 wooden dragons which have been removed or have weathered over the last two centuries.

The Great Pagoda was designed by Sir William Chambers and first erected in 1762. It is a small-scale imitation of a Chinese Ta.

It is periodically open to the public, but is in need of the restoration work to ensure that continued opening is possible.

Sanpower group is a Chinese service industries group, perhaps best known in the UK for being the owner of House of Fraser.

Late in 2016, we revealed that the department store has expanded its presence in the Chinese market by opening its fist standalone store.

The store is located in Sanpower Plaza, in the heart of Nanjing’s Xinjiekou, the International Financial Centre, and stocks over 300 luxury brands.

These are displayed over six floors, and in excess of 400,000 square feet of prime retail space.