Seven Marble Plinths from Ruined Chinese Palace to Return Home from Norwegian Museum

Xinhua Net, English

February 25, 2014

Seven marble plinths from Beijing's Old Summer Palace will return home from a museum in this Norwegian city this autumn, according to a recently reached tripartite agreement.

In a joint interview with Xinhua on Thursday, both the incumbent director of the Kode museum, Karin Hindsbo, and her predecessor, Erlend Hoyersten, confirmed that the museum has reached an agreement with Peking University and Beijing Zhongkun Investment Group on the matter.

Efforts are under way to make sure that the seven marble plinths, decorated with delicate flower carvings, will arrive in September as scheduled at Peking University, where they will be put on display, said Hindsbo.

The home-coming comes one and a half centuries after the Old Summer Palace, known as Yuanmingyuan in China, was looted and ruined by invading English and French forces.

But the arrangement will not in anyway affect the current status of ownership held by the Kode museum, said Hoyersten, who negotiated the agreement last year with Peking University and Zhongkun Chairman Huang Nubo, a Peking University alumnus.

However, the plinths will remain in China permanently after they come back, added Hoyersten.

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