(CFP Photo)
With the approaching of International Museum Day observed on May 18, construction of the Nanjing City Wall Museum, located on the eastern side of the Zhonghua Gate, an iconic defense complex, has entered the stage of exhibits display and interior decoration before the scheduled opening during the National Day holiday in October.
The new museum’s exhibition area on the ground floor and the first floor totals about 8,700 square meters. When completed, it will be the largest city wall museum in China, also adding a new cultural landmark in Nanjing.
The City Wall of Nanjing refers to the wall of the ancient capital city of Nanjing built in the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Located by the southern bank of the lower Yangtze River, it represents an important period of urban construction and development in human history.
The museum was designed by a team at the Architectural Design and Research Institute of the South China University of Technology, led by Chinese architect He Jingtang, also an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
The large glass facade of the main building reflects the surrounding setting, bringing together the elements of structures from different periods and forming impressive contrasts and connection between the past and current.
Outside the museum on the west is a green space for visitors to read poems dedicated to the City Wall, bronze plates with the wall’s important information, and a viewing platform on the top.
(CFP Photo)
The new museum has an exhibition hall to highlight nearly 700 bricks and showcase their unique value. The City Wall is known for the bricks, among which most are marked with Chinese characters recording their origin, the officials in charge of their making, or the individual makers. Visitors can learn about the historical and cultural information of Nanjing's City Wall and also gain a glimpse of the exquisite craftsmanship of brick making during the Ming Dynasty.
The museum will also showcase over 2,000 newly collected artefacts, which also provide a solid foundation for the exhibition and research.
The museum will also display cannons and weapon parts in the exhibition. In the late Yuan (1271-1368) and early Ming dynasties, gunpowder weapons were commonly used in combat, so the wall needed to be taller and thicker in order to meet the military needs. Therefore, huge strip stones and large bricks were used extensively at that time to build the City Wall.
To better interact and engage with visitors, the museum will make full use of interactive equipment for a great experience.
In order to show an accurate picture of the complex, the exhibits include a digital model to present the beauty of the City Wall in different seasons and the related information, thanks to the use of multimedia displays and projectors.
The immersive theatre in the museum will showcase both the imposing City Wall and the vibrant urban life in the past. The virtual tour, One Day in the City Wall in Nanjing, will enable tourists to feel like walking directly along the city in the Ming Dynasty, observe folk like and social customs in a time travel.
The exhibition part of new museum concludes with a highlight of intangible cultural heritage and a pathway to a multimedia screen area, where visitors can listen to the stories of the City Wall told by 100 narrators. In telling their own life experiences, they add a more personal touch to the structure, helping the public understand deeper the changes and development over the years.
