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We look at the ongoing restoration of one of the most significant sites in Beijing's Forbidden City: Qianlong Garden.

The Palace Museum (PM) in the Chinese capital Beijing and the World Monuments Fund are expanding their unprecedented partnership of the past several years to work together on a major new initiative in the Forbidden City—the restoration of the Qianlong Garden, one of the most historically significant and architecturally rich sites in the Forbidden City.

The announcement marks the launch of a historic joint commitment by the PM and WMF: an 10-year, $1,518 million project to conserve the Garden, which was built by Qing Emperor Qianlong (1736–1795) and is one of the largest areas in the Forbidden City to remain relatively untouched since imperial times. The most comprehensive project ever undertaken by WMF, the new Palace Museum World Monuments Fund initiative is also the most significant partnership ever taken on by the PM with an international organization to restore an historic site in the Forbidden City.

The full-scale commitment by the PM and WMF to the Qianlong Garden restoration over the next 10 years will bring together the best resources and expertise from around the world in a wide range of areas, including conservation, architecture, technical and craftsmanship training, and museum methodologies such as planning, education, site interpretation, and exhibition. The PM and WMF expect that their work at the Garden will serve as a learning laboratory for restoration, planning, and site interpretation in other areas of the Forbidden City, and perhaps other sites in China.

In addition, the project will expand opportunities for international technical and cultural exchange among conservation and museum professionals in the U.S. and China. When the project is completed in 2016, visitors, who now have only limited access to some of the courtyards of the Garden complex, will be able to enjoy the historic interiors and the emperor’s private garden, which have never been fully open to the public.

Mr. Li Ji, Executive Deputy Director of the Palace Museum said: “The 230 year old Qianlong Garden is a famed imperial garden complex that not only bears historical witness to the political and imperial life of Qing Emperor Qianlong and reflects the aesthetic and cultural meaning sense of Chinese classical gardens, but also demonstrates the achievement of a unique landscape style that blends features of gardens in both northern and southern China. Today, all the elements necessary to conserving and protecting the entire Qianlong Garden are in place, and our signing ceremony demonstrates our commitment and expectation toward this very important restoration in the Forbidden City. All of you here today bear witness to this historic moment.”

"Our combined efforts there have quickly developed into forming one of WMF’s strongest and most important partnerships worldwide. With this new initiative, we are bringing together two key institutions from two major nations to focus on a significant commitment to cultural heritage that will benefit the world. We are very grateful for the exceptional generosity of the Freeman Foundation, which has enabled us to launch the Qianglong Master Plan, and to all our donors for their enthusiastic support. This is an exciting time for all of us.”

WMF’s participation in the Qianlong Master Plan is made possible by the generosity of a number of private - mostly corporate - donors. Additional matching funds are being contributed by the Palace Museum.

The Qianlong Garden

Covering approximately two acres of the Ningshou Gong Precinct in the northeast quadrant of the Forbidden City, the Qianlong Garden was built from 1771 to 1776 by Emperor Qianlong, the fourth Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, to serve as his residence during his planned retirement.

Known as much for his artistic interests as for his political leadership, Emperor Qianlong designed the Garden as a 'mini' Forbidden City within the Forbidden City. The Garden’s opulent buildings in the complex preserve decoration and furnishings from a time widely considered to be the most sophisticated period of interior design in China’s history.

Qianlong’s reign coincided with a key moment in the history of China. Under his sovereignty, China was the world’s largest and richest nation, and was engaged in extensive interactions with the West.

While the impact of Chinese art and architecture on Western European art of this period is well known, the 'Lodge of Retirement', and other interiors of the Garden, reveal that this influence was reciprocal. The largescale Trompe L’oeil paintings and wall coverings in a number of the Garden’s buildings were influenced by Giuseppe Castiglione, a Jesuit missionary and painter who settled in China c.1730. Four large Trompe L’oeil silk murals, which incorporate Western motifs and methods, are the sole surviving examples of their genre not only in the Forbidden City but in all of China.

The emperor made use of the best available materials and artisans for his Garden buildings to create sumptuous and elegant spaces that represented the epitome of Chinese interiors at the time. Today, much of the most delicate decoration, including bamboo marquetry, white jade cartouches and doublesided embroidered silk, is disintegrating.

The rooms of the Garden buildings, including a unique theater pavilion in the Lodge of Retirement, have remained largely untouched since their creation, and have been seen by very few people since 1925, when many of the buildings were left unused. The exquisite attention to detail is also seen in the architectural features of the Garden: the layout of the buildings and gardens among the four courtyards, and the extensive and unusual use of rockery gardens, are all perfectly harmonised within the site.

The Garden has survived this long because of a remarkable imperial edict that Emperor Qianlong issued during his lifetime: this area of the Forbidden City would be preserved in future years as part of a palace for 'super sovereigns' - that is, for emperors who retired. Were it not for that edict, it is likely that this complex would have been significantly altered by subsequent reigning sovereigns in the Forbidden City, as was a common practice.

In more recent history, the Lodge and the other buildings in the Qianlong Garden—like the Forbidden City itself—survived the Cultural Revolution because of the protection afforded to it by Premier Chou Enlai during that period. For much of the 20th century, a lack of available financial resources protected the site from alteration—a form of benign neglect. The Qianlong Garden is now poised for restoration and presentation to the public who will be able to access the site on a scheduled basis.

'Master Plan' For Qianlong Garden

In 2004, both the PM and WMF made a comprehensive review of the entire Qianlong Garden site and developed a 'Master Plan', led by Liu Chang, Associate Professor, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing, and WMF’s country representative in China. Following the Master Plan, the restoration of the entire Qianlong Garden will be carried out in four distinct phases, all to be completed by 2016, with each phase focusing on one or two of the four courtyards.

The project will restore the architectural and physical integrity of the Garden, its buildings, interiors, garden rockeries and plantings, and at the same time rehabilitate and modernise its infrastructure: the Garden’s heating, drainage and electricity. Most of the Garden’s buildings are structurally sound, but many of its elaborate interiors require extensive restoration.

The Master Plan guiding the project will ensure that the entire Qianlong Garden is accessible to the public for the first time as a unified, contiguous site through which visitors will be able to explore the restored buildings, their interiors, and gardens—an experience previously enjoyed only by China’s emperors. In addition, the project will create new educational and interpretative centers, providing opportunities for public education and interpretation of key aspects of China’s architectural and imperial history to everexpanding audiences, both Chinese and international. Integral to the Master Plan will be the development of an interpretation plan to accommodate public access, taking into account the intimate scale of the site and the delicate nature of the site.

Qianlong’s Lodge of Retirement, located in the Garden’s fourth courtyard, will be the first building in the Garden to be restored. Restoration of the Lodge began in 2001, as part of a trial co-operative project between the Palace Museum and WMF, and is expected to be completed in time for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

The Palace Museum

The Palace Museum was established on October 10, 1925, on the foundation of a palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties - more often called 'The Forbidden City' - and their collection of treasures. It is a large comprehensive national museum that embraces the palatial architectural complex, ancient art, and imperial court history.

The Forbidden City was established in 1420. It was designated by the State Council as a key national cultural heritage protection site in 1961 and in 1987 it was named as a UNESCO 'World Cultural Heritage' site. The Forbidden City boasts the largest and most intact ancient palatial architectural complex in both China and the world. The museum is dedicated to the conservation of its ancient architecture, collections and ancient court history through archiving, research, and display so they may be enjoyed
by people from all walks of life.

World Monuments Fund - China

The World Monuments Fund (WMF) is the foremost private, nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of endangered architectural and cultural sites around the world. Since its founding in 1965, WMF has worked tirelessly to stem the loss of historic structures at more than 400 sites in over 80 countries. From its headquarters in New York City-and offices and affiliates in Paris, London, Madrid, and Lisbon—WMF works with local partners and communities to identify and save important heritage sites through innovative programs of project planning, fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and onsite training.

Since 1996, the Fund has worked with the People’s Republic of China and its citizens to raise worldwide visibility of and financial support for protection and restoration of internationally recognised Chinese cultural heritage sites. During this time, WMF has provided technical assistance and financial support to projects throughout China. WMF projects in China have included imperial sites, ancient temples, village theaters, and archaeological sites.

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