Plans for a new storehouse to protect cultural relics from the
Ming Tombs, the mausoleums of 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644), have been approved in Beijing.
The construction, to cost 26 million yuan (US$3.25 million), was
approved by the State Cultural Relics Administration, said Li
Dezhong, deputy director of the Office for Ming Tombs Area
Administration.
The storehouse will be built in the third chamber of the
Dingling Tomb. The three-story facility, with 3,000 square meters
of floor space, will feature modern security and fire equipment,
plus temperature and humidity controls.
Automated exit and entry monitors will be on the floor above
ground. The two-story underground will be used for storing relics
and for administrative offices, said Li.
Li said the current two ground-level exhibition halls, where
precious cultural relics unearthed from Dingling and other Ming
Tombs are kept, failed to control temperature and humidity.
"Moreover, the halls are small, and the layout is disorganized,
so the relics are heaped together instead of being sorted and
placed in different racks, and hidden safety dangers also exist,"
said Li.
The new warehouse would better protect and hold more relics.
Lying 44 kilometers northwest of downtown Beijing, the Ming
Tombs have been perfectly preserved. Because of its long history,
and palatial and integrated architecture, the site of the tombs has
a high cultural and historic value.
They are known as the 13 Ming Tombs in Chinese (Shisanling) as
13 out of the 16 Ming emperors as well as 23 empresses, one
highest-ranking concubines and a dozen immolated imperial
concubines were buried in the valley.
The Dingling Tomb, also known as the Underground Palace, was the
first imperial tomb to have been excavated in China. Emperor Wanli
and two of his wives were buried there in 1620 in a deep marble
vault four stories underground, which remains cool even on the
hottest of summer days.
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(CRI.com December 13, 2006)