Surge of visitors to Shanghai museum before relocation

Visitors look at an exhibit at the Shanghai Natural History Museum on May 11, the last day the museum opened to visitors at its current location. It will soon be relocated to a much bigger building near the Jing'an Sculpture Park. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

The Shanghai Natural History Museum has recently attracted an especially high number of visitors, as it is expected to close on Sunday and will soon be relocated to a much bigger building near the Jing'an Sculpture Park.

It received a total of 96,000 visitors on Saturday compared to 1,000 the previous weekend.

The museum - built in 1956 - covers an area of 8,000 square meters and boasts a collection of 270,000 exhibits.

The new venue - which will also boast a large parking lot - has a floor area of 45,000 square meters and it will be able to display many more exhibits.

Many residents said that they remember the museum from their childhood. "I feel very sorry about the closure of the museum. It's hard to think of any other museum which stayed at the same site for almost 60 years. We don't know how we will preserve our childhood memories after the relocation," said one resident surnamed Gao.