Historical relics from the Ming Tombs move to new storehouse

Entering the new storehouse you can see the dust removal equipment mounted on the walls. [Photo/Beijing News]

Unearthed after 59 years, more than 3,000 precious historical relics from the Ming Tombs in Beijing's suburban district of Changping were recently returned to the underground world in a new two-floor 2435 square meter basement storehouse.

According to staff members at the Ming Tombs Administration Office, the old storehouse was built in early 1960s but was never adapted to conserve important cultural relics due to both security and preservation management.

In 2005, the Administration Office launched a new storehouse project. Construction for the new project began in 2009, and was finished in 2012. The space for historical-relic conservation is three times larger than the old one. To answer its old security and preservation problems the new storehouse added three massive burglar proof doors and state-of-the-art dust removal equipment.

Advanced air conditioning equipments was also installed to ensure a constant temperature and humidity condition for the relics. A staff member told Beijing local media on Thursday that in the past, silk fabrics were the most difficult item to preserve.

"Normally, the humidity should be set a 55 percent, and the temperature at 20 degree Celsius. If not set correctly then the silk fabrics become friable. Now that we have this new facility, the condition for historical-relic conservation is much better," said the unnamed staff.

This year, on March 27, the relocation of the historical relics were carried out. In the following eight months, more than 5,000 cultural relics were removed from the old storehouse. In addition to the relics in the new storehouse, around 2,000 relics consisting of stone tablets, stone carving and building elements were settled into a courtyard in Siling Mausoleum, the furthest mausoleum from the entrance of the Ming Tombs scenic spot.