BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The China Great Wall Museum at the foot of the renowned Badaling Great Wall in Beijing reopened to the public on Saturday after an extensive renovation and upgrade.
Located in Yanqing District on the outskirts of the Chinese capital, the museum first opened in 1994 and closed in April 2022 for redevelopment.
Construction began in December 2023, with a building built to better blend the museum into the surrounding mountains and vegetation.
The museum, with a floor area of 16,000 square meters, features exhibition areas, educational and public service areas, collection storage areas and research spaces.
Its permanent exhibition and special thematic displays explore the Great Wall's history and culture. The permanent exhibition features more than 700 cultural relics, including many on loan from museums across China.
The displays trace over 2,000 years of the Great Wall's construction efforts and showcase how its preservation methods have advanced, from emergency protection to systematic conservation.
Visitors can also better understand the Great Wall's historical roles. Beyond its function as a military defense structure, it also gradually became a site of exchanges and integration among China's ethnic groups.
On the museum's second floor, visitors can enjoy expansive views of the imposing Badaling section outside the venue through glass curtain walls.
The Great Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, stretches more than 20,000 kilometers across 15 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. Beijing has about 520 kilometers of Great Wall sections in total, and the Badaling section is the most visited. ■
