BEIJING: The Palace Museum in Beijing opened a highly innovative exhibition on Monday afternoon called “The Forbidden City and the Palace of Versailles: Cultural Exchanges Between China and France in the 17th and 18th Centuries”.

Global Times reported that the event, which celebrates the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and France and the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism, aims to enhance cultural understanding and friendship between the two countries.

The opening ceremony, attended by officials and guests from both countries, witnessed the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement between the Palace Museum, the Palace of Versailles, and the Musée Guimet, France’s national museum of Asian art.

The exhibition, which runs until 30th June, features over 200 exquisite cultural relics, including scientific instruments, clocks, enamelware, porcelain, paintings, and books from Chinese and French museums.

The displays highlight the French nobility and bureaucracy’s fascination with
Chinese artworks and the mutual influence of art between the two cultures during the late 17th and 18th centuries, considered the golden age of cultural exchange between the Chinese and French courts.

Source: Emirates News Agency