Hunan Provincial Museum Kicks Off Renovation Project

A digital representation of Hunan Provincial Museum after renovation

“The renovation project of Hunan Provincial Museum is now starting up!” Zhou Qiang, CPC Secretary of Hunan Province announced at the construction-opening ceremony on Monday.

“Hunan Provincial Museum has scored tremendous achievements in the past years and ranks the second among the 83 top-class museums in China according to the latest performance evaluation. The starting of its renovation today is not only a milestone for its new development, but also a memorable moment in the history of museums in China,” said Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

Founded in the early 1950s, Hunan Provincial Museum is located in Kaifu District of Changsha City, adjoining the Martyres’ Park and covering an area of 44,671 m². The museum boasts abundant collections that feature the cultural relics excavated from the world-famous Mawangdui Tombs of Han Dynasty, the bronze wares of Shang and Zhou Dynasties, cultural relics of Chu Dynasty, pottery and porcelain works from various dynasties, calligraphy works and paintings, and modern cultural relics.

Through half a century’s endeavors, it has now been crowned as a top-class museum in China, a Patriotic Education Model Base and is also listed as one of the first eight National Foremost Museums eligible to be co-constructed by central and local governments.

However, the two major exhibition halls of the museum, which opened respectively in 1956 and 1999, no longer meet the expectations that modern users have of a museum building now. The further development of the museum has been restricted by the limited space and relatively backward facilities; therefore, renovation has increasingly become an imperative for Hunan Provincial Museum.

Co-organized by Hunan Department of Culture, Hunan Cultural Relics Department and Hunan Provincial Museum, the International Short-listed Competition on Conceptual Design for the Renovation Project was launched in last December, with six renowned architects from China and abroad being invited. Finally, the design by the Design Consortium of Japan’s Arata Osozaki Architectural Firm and China’s Central Academy of Fine Arts was short-listed for the renovation project.

In this design, which is inspired by the idea of “Dongting Lake Blooming in the Ding”, the new museum will be transformed into the shape of Ding (the vessel symbolizing prosperity and nobility in Chinese culture) with a crystal-like roof resembling the Dongting Lake, around where the Hunan culture is formed.

The new museum, with the distinctively designed courtyard, two new exhibition wings surrounding the original building, heightened ceilings and the state-of-the-art facilities, will be a modern structure connecting the old halls to the new and combining the Hunan culture with the modern society.

“The objective of this project is to build Hunan Provincial Museum as one of the highest-level centers for cultural relics’ conservation and an open window through which people can learn about the history and culture of Hunan,” said Chen Jianming, director of Hunan Provincial Museum.

When the renovated museum reopens, the total building area will reach to over 70,000 m², with substantial improvement in the facilities and conditions for cultural relics’ preservation, exhibition, audiences’ education service and audio-visual experiences. The museum is expected to receive up to 2.5 to 3 million visitors annually, from the 1.4 million that uncomfortably crowded its halls before the renovation.

This project is predicted to be completed in the year of 2013, with a total investment of $131 million (RMB 850 million yuan).