New Statue and A Revived Museum for Tiananmen Square

Posted 10:00am Mon Jan 31st, 2011 by pandaroo
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While the Great Helmsmen has long cast a wry eye over China’s symbolic center, since last week Tiananmen Square has had a new set of eyes keeping watch over the space. A “9.5-meter bronze statue” of Confucius now sits outside the National Museum of China on the eastern edge of the square, signaling the museum’s imminent re-opening after four years of renovation.

According to People’s Daily the massive reconstruction of the National Museum’s interior cost RMB 2.5 billion. Needless to say, in a country where size always matters, the institution is “Believed to be the world’s world's largest national museum, with a floor space of nearly 200,000 square meters, and more than 1 million national treasures in its permanent collection.”

Although the Confucius statue was unveiled last week, the museum is currently scheduled to re-open in March. Watch this space for more information as it comes to hand.

 

Original post on the Beijinger here.

Re: New Statue and A Revived Museum for Tiananmen Square

christopherlay
christopherlay's picture
At 10:45pm Sun Feb 6th, 2011 christopherlay said:

Last time I visited the museum, about 4 years ago, my overall impression was one of disappointment. There are many museums in China that were better and as a national institution, it was an embarrassment. Glad to hear that the renovations are nearing completion and I look forward to visiting it again.