A long-lost bronze window panel is returned to the Summer Palace in Beijing on Wednesday, January 10, 2024. /CFP
A long-lost bronze window panel from the Summer Palace in Beijing was returned to its home on January 10.
A long-lost bronze window panel is returned to the Summer Palace in Beijing on Wednesday, January 10, 2024. /CFP
The lattice panel, measuring 105.2 centimeters long by 19.8 centimeters wide, was found in France last year. It was bought by three Chinese individuals and donated to the National Cultural Heritage Administration.
The Baoyun Pavilion, the only existing bronze building in China's imperial gardens, is seen at the Summer Palace in Beijing on Wednesday, January 10, 2024. /CFP
By comparing its patterns, structure and materials to the other remaining lattices in the Baoyun Pavilion at the Summer Palace, the only existing bronze building in China's imperial gardens, experts confirmed that the reinstated panel was created more than 270 years ago and was originally set into a window of the pavilion.
The Baoyun Pavilion, the only existing bronze building in China's imperial gardens, is seen at the Summer Palace in Beijing on January 10, 2024. /CFP
Due to foreign invasions in 1860 and 1900, a total of 10 bronze windows and 31 window panels from the Baoyun Pavilion were lost by the early 20th century. Since 1993, some of them have been returned to the Summer Palace and most have been reinstated at the pavilion.