Old Summer Palace goes online in Beijing's Shougang Park

2020-07-15

An indoor digital exhibition of Yuanmingyuan, or the Old Summer Palace, opened on July 11 at Shougang Park in Beijing to last until November this year.

The exhibition is mounted in a silo in Shougang Park, which was a steel industrial park that has gradually been turned into a high-end industrial integrated service area.

A girl takes pictures of paintings on display. [Photo by Wang Wanting/chinadaily.com.cn]

Spanning three floors, the exhibition helps visitors understand and get close to Yuanmingyuan, experiencing the collision of traditional Chinese culture and the country’s industrial heritage step by step.

The earliest existing image of Yuanmingyuan, shot in 1873. [Photo by Wang Wanting/chinadaily.com.cn]

It starts from the silo’s top floor, where the earliest existing image of Yuanmingyuan is displayed, and records the changes of Yuanmingyuan in the 100 years after its ruin. It also shows the most intact copperplate etching of European palaces, which is collected at the University of Manchester. There is also the world’s only watercolor image of the south elevation of the Harmonious Wonder, on public display for the first time.

The world’s only watercolor of the south elevation of the Harmonious Wonder is on public display for the first time. [Photo by Wang Wanting/chinadaily.com.cn]

Walking downstairs, one begins an immersive experience. Surround projections and stereo give visitors a close communication with this ancient royal palace. Looking down to the very bottom, there is a drop in height of over 20 meters to a huge centered industrial cone-shaped structure, one of the industrial heritages in Shougang Park.

The remaining industrial heritage, a cone in the exhibition hall. [Photo by Wang Wanting/chinadaily.com.cn]

The exhibition hall will display different exhibitions in the future, according to the organizer.