Palace Museum to add foreign relics hall 故宫新增外国文物馆

China's Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, is to renovate an unfinished Western-style "Hall of Water" into a hall for foreign cultural relics, according to the museum curator.

中国故宫（也称紫禁城）中的废置的西式的“水族馆”将有望被改建成为外国文物馆，故宫博物院的馆长近期表示。

It will be the first foreign cultural relics exhibition hall in China, said Shan Jixiang, curator of the museum, at a seminar on Sunday.

馆长单霁翔在星期日的学术研讨会上同时表示，这也将成为中国的第一个外国文物馆。

Construction began on the "Hall of Water," otherwise known as Yanxi Palace, or the Hall of Prolonging Happiness, in 1909 in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

故宫“水族馆”，也称延禧宫，自晚清的1909年起开始建立。

The hall, known under yet another popular moniker as the "crystal palace," was built on a white marble base, with cast iron and glass walls and floors. It was intended that by its completion, water would be filled into a well surrounding the hall, so that people inside the pavilion could view swimming fish through the transparent glass.

延禧宫，俗称“水晶宫”，在白色大理石上建筑，有生铁和厚玻璃玻璃镶嵌在建筑上面。本来预计在完成之时，延禧宫四周会有水道环绕，室内的人们能够透过透明的玻璃看到鱼在室外游动。

However, construction was suspended in 1911 due to a tight budget, according to the official website of the Palace Museum. The Palace Museum built several warehouses around the hall in 1931 to store paintings and calligraphy.

但是，根据故宫的官方网站上的说话，因国库空虚，水晶宫尚未完工便被迫在1911年停建。此后到了1931年，几座库房建筑又在其四周建立以收藏书画。

"These groups of buildings combine Chinese and Western style, which are incompatible with a Chinese architectural complex," said Shan. "So we plan to make it a hall of foreign cultural relics."

“这组中西合璧的院落在故宫建筑群里略显突兀，”单馆长说，“因此，我们计划将其建成故宫的外国文物馆。”

Located in the heart of Beijing, the Forbidden City was home to China's emperors and was the highest center of power for about 500 years. It attracts more than 14 million visitors annually.

故宫坐落于北京市中心，它是中国历代皇帝的居所，在500年前它还曾是最高的权力中心。现在，每年有超过一千四百万名游客参观游览。