The Palace Museum is pictured amid snow in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 22, 2022.Photo:Xinhua

 
Beijing will carry out restoration work on five world heritage sites in Beijing – the Palace Museum, Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, Grand Canal and the Thirteen Tombs of the Ming dynasty – in 2022.

According to a report by The Paper on Wednesday, the Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau has issued approval for repairs to the five ancient sites, noting that the walls of the Palace Museum and Temple of Heaven are scheduled to be fixed.

The last renovation of the northwest section of the Palace Museum wall was over 30 years ago. According to the approval document, this section of the wall was repaired in 1981 and 1988 because of water seepage. The new repair will also help with research and analysis of wall structure and will evaluate the stability of the wall.

The outer altar wall of the Temple of Heaven will also be repaired, involving the section from Qigumen to the Natural History Museum.

A group of Buddhist buildings in the Summer Palace underwent large-scale protective repairs from 2010 to 2012, and this time the related management office will check to ensure maintenance of the buildings.

At present, the project in the Thirteen Tombs of the Ming dynasty is undergoing preliminary investigation and research. The authorities have required the Ming Tombs Management Center to investigate a water seepage problem. The center will also need to propose materials and technologies to control cracks and missing materials in the rammed earth.

Two royal warehouses of the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911) in the Grand Canal will be repaired on the basis of “minimum intervention.”