Museum window vandalized

The breaking of a window and damage to an antique clock at the Palace Museum in Beijing on Saturday has prompted authorities to speed up the upgrading of security measures, the museum director said on Sunday.

A male tourist broke a window of the Palace of Blessings to Mother Earth (Yi Kun Gong), causing an antique clock to fall and suffer damage.

Two surveillance videos show the male tourist entered the courtyard of the Palace of Blessings to Mother Earth at 11:08 am. He walked straight to a front window of the main hall and broke the glass using his hand six seconds later. Museum staff Zhao Nan caught the suspect immediately and called the security department.

The suspect was taken into custody by the municipal public security bureau after medical treatment to his injured right hand. The bureau said on its official micro blog that the suspect is surnamed Wang, aged 22 and from Hubei province. Further investigation is under way.

The broken glass has been replaced, so normal service can be resumed.

During a news conference on Sunday, the museum authorities briefed journalists the incident and released more details.

The damaged antique is a gilded brass clock decorated with sculptures of flowers, fountains and a Westerner striking a bell. It was made by the UK in the 18th century and kept by the Qing Court. It has been evaluated as a second-level national treasure.

The clock fell off a table next to the broken glass. Its main body separated from the base and there was other damage.

"The clock can be completely repaired since we have a collection of Western clock components," said Wang Jing, associate researcher and clock expert of the museum's preservation and scientific technology department. "But it will take months."

Palace Museum Curator Shan Jixiang said: "This incident will speed up the process of the Safe Palace Museum Project."

In April, Shan announced an eight-year project aimed at removing all potential safety hazards. The short-term goal of the project will focus on eliminating threats from fire, theft, extreme weather and stampeding crowds by 2015. More than 75 percent of the reconstruction of the security system has been completed. It is expected to be finished by the end of this year.

Shan said on Sunday that a new type of detachable compound glass is being installed and tested at the Hall for Receiving Celestial Favor (Cheng Qian Gong), which will be opened as the exhibition hall of bronze ware in one or two months.

"It is a thinner-version of bullet-proof glass, which is anti-ultraviolet and anti-puncture," said Ma Jige, deputy director of the museum's exhibition department.

This glass is expected to be widely used in the complex after testing to avoid security incidents, he added.

At the same time, more high-resolution security cameras will be installed, leaving no blind spots within the museum.

Shan said the museum has experienced several problems such as a leak from a heating installation. They have all been dealt with properly, he added.

"We are facing all sorts of strange situations every day but the Palace Museum definitely cannot be threatened by potential crises," Shan said. "This latest incident will not stop the Palace Museum from opening up more areas to the public."