Original title: 81 pieces of French national treasure cultural relics came to China for the first time, and the exhibition was held in 798 Hall of Meet Museum on March 30
Unpacking, inspection, exhibition arrangement... March 25 was the closing day of Monday, but the 798 Museum was busy. A few days later, "Meet Napoleon - the Lost Palace" will be held here. As the first special exhibition of the 2024 Sino French Cultural Tourism Year, this exhibition will display 81 French national treasures, all of which are palace furniture, tapestries, paintings, decorations, etc. in the Napoleonic period. At the moment, they are in wooden boxes, like huge blind boxes waiting to be opened.
Exhibits shall be delivered to the site. (Photographed by Song Ji)
Precious exhibits come to China through the "green channel"
At 10 a.m., the staff from the Customs of Beijing Convention and Exhibition Center, the representative of the French escort party and the delivery clerk have arrived at the exhibition hall to unseal and inspect the exhibits. The precious cultural relics wrapped in layers revealed their true faces under the eyes of everyone.
These exhibits are from the three main palaces of the Napoleonic Empire - the Tuileries Palace, the St. Croix Palace and the Murdon Palace. All three palaces were destroyed in the second half of the 19th century. Fortunately, some of the decorations and furniture in the palaces were transferred out, and now most of them are in the possession of the French National Furniture Management Museum. Now, they have traveled a long distance to China to meet Chinese audiences for the first time.
"Due to the long history and fragile texture of the cultural relics in this exhibition, they are very sensitive to the changes of light, dust, temperature and humidity, and the requirements for transportation and storage conditions are particularly high. The customs provides us with a full range of customs clearance services, realizing the direct release from the port to the exhibition hall, greatly reducing the time for customs clearance and transportation, and effectively protecting the safety of cultural relics." Yang Li, project leader of Huaxie International Treasure Freight Service Co., Ltd.
For this exhibition, the Customs of Beijing Convention and Exhibition Center has taken a number of measures to facilitate customs clearance, formulated a work plan of "one exhibition and one policy", adopted diversified guarantee modes such as customs supervision on site, and opened a "port exhibition hall" green channel to ensure zero delay and zero error in customs clearance of exhibits. "In addition, we also synchronized the video monitoring signals of the exhibition hall to the exhibition customs video supervision center to achieve invisible supervision," said Wang Shi, head of the second section of the Beijing Convention and Exhibition Center Customs Exhibits Supervision.
Among various exhibition types, foreign loan exhibitions (also known as "imported exhibitions") are the most complicated and demanding. Generally speaking, the Chinese side should apply to the foreign side for exhibition loan at least 12 months in advance. "Due to the high value of the cultural relics exhibited, the Customs of Beijing Convention and Exhibition Center has provided a guarantee mode of on-site supervision free of deposit for this exhibition to ensure the smooth progress of the exhibition." Meet the museum's introduction.
Careful care of cultural relics
The luxurious woven carpets produced by the French royal carpet factories Goblin and Beauvais, the exquisite porcelain produced by the French Sevre royal porcelain factory, and the gorgeous lamps that once lit up the court's romantic night... On the scene, the point handler Xing Hang and the French representative carefully checked the details of each cultural relic. She said that the handover of cultural relics is a process in which both parties record and approve the name, number, texture, quantity, preservation status and other information of the handed over cultural relics in detail in the form of text, chart, image, etc. The handover of cultural relics is not only the transfer of custody, but also the clarification of the status quo of cultural relics.
"This is a very important exhibit - Napoleon's military knife tapestry. It is made of wool and silk, and is woven according to a painting in 1803, which depicts the scene of Napoleon's victory in the battle of Malengo." Xing Hang said that the brown part at the lower right of the tapestry has fiber abrasion, and the upper part has some water stains, so there is no danger of further disease for the time being, But it should also be included in the scope of observation. "We should ensure that all aspects of the exhibits are stable during exhibition arrangement."
A marble bust of Napoleon with burning and shattering marks will also be displayed in the exhibition. On this bust, Napoleon wore a laurel as a symbol of victory in the style of the ancient Roman emperor, and the accessory was the symbol of his empire - the bee. When the statue was received by the French National Furniture Administration, it was already broken and had burning marks.
The spot check and exhibition arrangement were carried out at the same time on that day. After confirming the spot check, the staff quickly moved the cultural relics to the booth, installed them in the exhibition wall or booth, and reinforced them. From "tailor-made" glass display cabinets for cultural relics to the tireless selection of the most appropriate screw size, the details of the exhibition layout are carefully observed everywhere.
The exhibition will be officially launched on March 30. It will not only display 81 precious exhibits, but also restore the "lost palace" with 3D scenes, leading the audience to experience the charm of French architecture, painting and decorative arts in the Napoleonic era. (Wang Guangyan)
