Construction of a new capital museum will start by the end of this year and the new hall will be ready for visitors before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, "Beijing Daily" reported Monday.
The newspaper quoted Mei Ninghua, head of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics, as saying that the plan to construct the new museum has been approved by the State Council and his bureau has invited the top architects at home and abroad to do the designs.
According to Mei, the new capital museum will be located at the southern side of Chang'an Avenue near Muxidi of Beijing and will cost more than 1.2 billion yuan (about US$145 million).
He added that upon completion of the new museum, several thousand pieces of cultural relics will be able to be exhibited simultaneously.
(Xinhua News Agency 08/05/2001)
