The Restoration of the Forbidden City

For Bonnie Burnham, it was like entering a Chinese version of an Egyptian tomb.

On a cool autumn day in 1999, the president of the World Monuments Fund followed her guides into an area where few had set foot since 1924, when China's last emperor vacated the palace and locked the doors to the studio behind him.

What she remembers most is the musty air and thick coat of dust that covered the floor, the delicate pieces of furniture, the lushly paneled walls etched with courtly lines of calligraphy.

"There was a sense that time had stopped there," she recalled.

On Monday, Burnham stood among dignitaries from the Forbidden City's Palace Museum to unveil the refurbishment of one of the most historically important interiors to survive from China's imperial past.


The tiny two-story lodge known as Juanqinzhai, a window into the private world of one of the Middle Kingdom's most artistic emperors, will soon be open to the public.

The $3-million restoration, which took nearly a decade to complete, marks an extraordinary partnership of Chinese artisans and Western expertise -- a rare instance in which China sought foreign assistance and know-how to restore one of its precious historical treasures.