The citizens of Dresden will soon have the chance to see an intricate red sandalwood carving which took 300 Chinese craftsmen more than three years to make.

Chen Lihua, the owner and curator of Beijing's China Red Sandalwood Museum, handed over the precious carving, "Heavenly Pavilion in Shanxi Province," to the German city's State Art Collections on Monday.

The model will soon be placed permanently at the entrance to the Glockenspiel Pavilion of the Porcelain Collection in Dresden's Zwinger Palace, the world's largest porcelain museum.

Martin Roth, director-general of the Dresden State Art Collection, presented Chen with a certificate to honor her contribution to Sino-German cultural exchanges.

Roth also conveyed former German Premier Helmut Kohl's best wishes to Chen. Kohl twice visited the China Red Sandalwood Museum in 2004 and 2005.

Ulrich Pietsch, director of the Porcelain Collection in the Zwinger Palace, said he felt honored to have such an elegant and work of art at the museum.

The prototype of the Heavenly Pavilion is located in Wanrong County in North China's Shanxi Province. The splendid building was first constructed during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and rebuilt in 1506 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

The China Red Sandalwood Museum, located in Beijing, has a collection of more than 100 classic red sandalwood works of art made during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), as well as more than 1,000 modern items.

Last year, Chen announced she would donate five valuable red sandalwood carvings to China's Palace Museum, the Smithsonian Institution in the United States, the British Museum, the Dresden State Art Collections and the Tokyo National Museum. The five carvings are the Temple of Heaven, the Ten-thousand Spring Pavilion in the Forbidden City, the Corner Tower in the Forbidden City, the Heavenly Pavilion in Shanxi Province and the Six-Corner Pavilion in the Forbidden City.

(China Daily September 30, 2006)