Museum denies it lets out space for weddings
By Richard Fu |
October 17, 2011, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE National Museum of China yesterday denied it lets space to the public for wedding ceremonies after a newspaper reported a couple celebrated their big day on the venue's top floor on Saturday.
According to The Beijing News, the wedding was approved by the museum's management because the couple are employees and had applied repeatedly to hold the ceremony at their place of work.
The newspaper said the couple held their banquet on the fifth floor of the museum on Saturday, and cited unidentified staff members as saying the rent was 250,000 yuan (US$39,175).
But the museum insisted it has no floor rental service for weddings and the Saturday event was specially approved.
It said visitors were not affected by the ceremony because exhibition halls are mostly on the first four floors and wedding guests used a separate elevator to reach the fifth floor.
The museum, on the eastern side of Tian'anmen Square, was founded in 2003 with the merger of the former National Museum of Chinese History and the National Museum of Chinese Revolution.
It is directed by the Ministry of Culture, according to the museum's website. A renovation program between 2007 and 2010 made the museum the world's largest by floor space, covering nearly 200,000 square meters, it claimed on its website.
This is not the first time the museum, which many think should represent the image of the state, has courted controversy.
It hosted a three-month exhibition on luxury label Louis Vuitton in late May, provoking a debate over whether a state museum should host such large-scale exhibitions for commercial brands.
According to The Beijing News, the wedding was approved by the museum's management because the couple are employees and had applied repeatedly to hold the ceremony at their place of work.
The newspaper said the couple held their banquet on the fifth floor of the museum on Saturday, and cited unidentified staff members as saying the rent was 250,000 yuan (US$39,175).
But the museum insisted it has no floor rental service for weddings and the Saturday event was specially approved.
It said visitors were not affected by the ceremony because exhibition halls are mostly on the first four floors and wedding guests used a separate elevator to reach the fifth floor.
The museum, on the eastern side of Tian'anmen Square, was founded in 2003 with the merger of the former National Museum of Chinese History and the National Museum of Chinese Revolution.
It is directed by the Ministry of Culture, according to the museum's website. A renovation program between 2007 and 2010 made the museum the world's largest by floor space, covering nearly 200,000 square meters, it claimed on its website.
This is not the first time the museum, which many think should represent the image of the state, has courted controversy.
It hosted a three-month exhibition on luxury label Louis Vuitton in late May, provoking a debate over whether a state museum should host such large-scale exhibitions for commercial brands.
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