
Forbidden City's "Hospital for Cultural Relics" is expected to open to the public for a trial run on Saturday after a related documentary went viral in China that sparked an online frenzy for relic repair work.
The one-day trial public exhibit of the Palace Museum's "Hospital for Cultural Relics" on Saturday is fully booked, according to the museum's website.
This is the first time the Palace Museum has allowed the public to see the "relic hospital." The museum plans to open the "hospital" for an extended period of time depending on the results of this trial run.
The special exhibit coincides with China's Cultural and Natural Heritage Day, which falls on Saturday.
Visitors, who had to reserve free tickets on the museum's website, will be able to watch the "cultural relic doctors" attend to and repair museum collections in the Forbidden City, including calligraphy, paintings, bronze ware and clocks, with 15 narrators guiding them, Beijing Evening News reported on Wednesday.
Only 40 visitors were allowed to reserve a ticket before Friday.
Visitors are not allowed to take photos or videos nor are they allowed to bring large bags or objects, the website said.
Internet users are thrilled to see the "relic hospital" open to the public. While some people were disappointed for failing to get a ticket, some feared that such exhibits could harm the relics being repaired.
Such concerns are unnecessary, Liu Zheng, a member of the China Cultural Relics Academy, told the Global Times on Thursday.
"The Palace Museum always does its best to protect relics. It responsibly manages exhibits," Liu said, adding that there is a strict schedule on what can be exhibited and how long they can be exhibited.
Masters in Forbidden City, a well-received documentary released in 2016, showed how relics are handled and repaired in the Palace Museum. Now, people can see them upfront and have a deeper understanding, Liu said.
Established on December 29, 2016, the "relic hospital" is located on the west side of the Forbidden City.
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