The Palace Museum, or the Forbidden City, is set to exhibit "Along the River during the Qingming Festival," a key historical painting, in 2020, reports Chinanews.com.
The museum made the announcement on Monday, saying it will be displayed along with other national treasures next year to help the celebrations marking the 600-year anniversary of the former Imperial Palace.
Shan Jixiang, curator of the museum, says dozens of special exhibitions will be put on, starting from the latter half of 2019 and lasting into 2020.
"Along the River during the Qingming Festival" is a panoramic painting created by the Song dynasty artist Zhang Zeduan in 1125. The masterpiece, which extends over 5 meters long, depicts the daily life of people and landscape in the capital at the time.
The fragile ancient painting is rarely on public display due to concerns about its preservation. The last time the panting was showcased was in 2015. That exhibition saw people wait in lines for a long as 6 hours to view the masterpiece.
Authorities with the Palace Museum began putting out a digitalized version of the painting last year, which is shown on a giant screen. Visitors wearing VR glasses are given an interactive experience of taking a boat and exploring the neighborhoods along the Bian River depicted in the painting.
