Lifting the Veil of the New Shandong Museum

The New Shandong Museum, a solid and magnificent building standing on the wide East Jingshi Road, not far away from the north road of West Willow and East Lotus, becomes more and more eye-catching. Along with its free opening, many citizens are eager to see its new image. Recently, our reporter has visited the museum and will show us one corner of the new image.

The New Hall of Shandong Museum is located to the east of Yanshan Overpass, to the north of East Jingshi Road. The Yellow River, the mother river of China, winds through to its north and the ranges and hills of Mountain Tai rolls up and down to its south. It can be said that it is surrounded by rivers and mountains. It is just this exceptional geographical advantage that displays the majestic beauty of the cultural building-the New Shandong Museum.

Covering an area of 210 mu (1mu 667 square meters) and a floor area of 82,900 square meters, the new museum possesses a main architectural feature of Round Sky and Square Earth. Round and Square are the basic geometric figures, the former has the meaning of soft and satisfaction and the latter signifies neatness and orderliness, and the blending of both of them couples hardness and softness. Round and Square is also the basic category of traditional Chinese culture: Round originates from the scholarship of Taoist School about inheriting, innovation and following the trend of era; Square is the state of personal culture of the Confucian School. Round and Square blend with each other and Taoist School and Confucian School complement each other, which constitutes the main subject spirit of traditional Chinese culture. The utilization of Round and Square is the direct way for the hundred-years-old museum to express its worship and admiration to our national culture.

According to Zheng Ning, a staff member of Shandong Museum, visitors can see more cultural relics directly instead of being separated by glass. In addition, various safe and convenient facilities are provided in the new museum, for instance, escalators can help visitors walk through the museum easily; the Painting and Calligraphy Exhibition Hall and a variety of seats spread all over can give visitors a chance to appreciate calmly or have a rest; the interactive models in some exhibition halls will increase interest of visitors and the coffee house can help visitors temporarily get out of the ancient atmosphere to have a leisurely taste of history in a modern atmosphere and think about the universe and life.

By Susan