The central government of China is going to close the country's national museum for two and a half years to implement its plan to double the size of the museum before the 2008 Olympics.

The National Museum of China, which is located on the east side of Tian'anmen Square, was built in 10 months in 1958 and 1959 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

It will be enlarged from about 65,000 square meters to more than 150,000 square meters, with a total of 58,000 square meters of exhibition space.

The work will begin next summer and is expected to be completed at the end of 2007. The museum will be closed while the work is going on, said Zhu Fenghan, executive director of the museum.

The country's central government is footing the bill, which is expected to exceed 1.8 billion yuan (US$217 million). The design for the new museum will be chosen at the end of this month from the three under consideration in the final round of the bidding.

Insiders said all three designs were submissions from famous foreign architects.

The museum's present buildings, designed by renowned Chinese architect Zhang Kaiji, are to be renovated at the same time as the new ones are added to their east.

All three designs stress "public space," with easy access from the square so that visitors can take advantage of the museum.

"Visitors will be able to have coffee on the balconies of the museum as they enjoy the view of the Square, Tian'anmen Rostrum and the Forbidden City," said Gao Baodong, vice-general manager of the Beijing Gauging Consultants Co, the firm in charge of the expansion project.

The present system of having the staff place glasses of water in the exhibition cases will be replaced by a new state-of-the-art environmental control system that will maintain temperature and humidity levels in all the exhibition halls.

The new buildings will also include a cinema, rest areas and shops. There are no such facilities in the present museum.

(China Daily July 22, 2004)