The Palace Museum in Beijing, also known as the Forbidden City, announced Thursday plans to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the founding of the world's biggest architectural compound made of wood.

According to Wang Xudong, director of the museum, a series of highlighted exhibitions will be on display next year in the former imperial palace occupied from 1420 to 1911.

For example, A Night Revel of Han Xizai, an iconic painting in Chinese fine art history that is believed to have been created in the 10th century, will be on view to the public. Calligraphy by Su Shi, a renowned poet and artist in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) will be exhibited as well.

Another special exhibition will allow visitors to trace back the architectural history of the Forbidden City over the past six centuries. And the institution is to present a cooperative exhibition with Versailles in France to reflect Sino-Western cultural communication in the 17th and 18th centuries.

A new gallery displaying porcelains will be reopended to the public after renovation and redesign of exhibitions.

Also, a series of public education projects will be organized for the anniversary. Hundreds of high school students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan will be invited to hold cultural programs in the museum and free tours will be offered for children from poverty-stricken regions.

Abundant academic symposiums and publishing projects are scheduled next year for the anniversary.

According to statistics from the administration of the Palace Museum, 19.3 million visits were logged at the landmark in 2019, setting a new record for attendance since the Forbidden City became a public museum in 1925.

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