Painting ‘Liberty Leading the People’ not coming to China  

名画"自由引导人民"无望来华 专家称其过于脆弱

为纪念中法建交50周年，中法两国将举行贯穿全年的纪念活动。4月8日起，来自卢浮宫博物馆、奥赛博物馆等法国文博机构的重量级展品将在中国国家博物馆展出，由此揭开2014年度“中法文化之春”的帷幕。《自由引导人民》原计划来中国展出，但最近突生变数。[查看全文]

(ECNS) -- French painter Eugene Delacroix's magnum opus "Liberty Leading the People" will not be shown at an exhibition in Beijing, the Xi'an Evening News reported on Monday.

To observe the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and France, the two countries have arranged a series of celebration activities for 2014.

An art exhibition featuring masterpieces from several French museums will be held at the National Museum of China in Beijing from April 8.

France's foreign minister Laurent Fabius once promised to show "Liberty Leading the People" at the exhibition. However, the plan was opposed by heritage experts at the Louvre-Lens Museum.

The experts said the painting, which has been lauded in a Chinese textbook as one of the best French paintings, was "too fragile" for shipment abroad.

The masterpiece had already been damaged in 1999 while being exhibited in Japan.