Beijing Palace Museum has started a key restoration project that will demolish existing modern structures to restore the former glory of the Forbidden City. The project is expected to be completed by 2017. 

Workers start to take down building parts of modern structures in the Palace Museum in Beijing, Oct 10, 2016. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

Modern structures, scattered in different areas of the ancient Forbidden City complex, will be gradually taken down.

"The Qianqing Gate used to be the place of morning meeting between the emperor and the high-rank officials. People want to see the ancient buildings, the history, not the modern shops. And so we are tearing down all of those that do not belong here," said Shan Jixiang, director of Palace Museum.

The Palace Museum is located in the Forbidden City, which was the imperial palace of 24 emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties, until the end of imperial China.

After the palace opened to the public, new buildings were constructed for administrative and other usage. In 2013, a project aimed to better preserve the cultural relics was initiated in the Palace Museum in response to rising awareness to maintain the integrity of the original construction.

Workers start to take down building parts of modern structures in the Palace Museum in Beijing, Oct 10, 2016. A total of 14,800-square-meter modern structures, scattered in different areas of the ancient building complexes, will be gradually taken down and the project is expected to be finished in the first half of next year, said the museum. The Palace Museum is located in the Forbidden City, which was the imperial palace of 24 emperors during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, until the end of Chinese imperial history. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

Shan said, "This is our last group of modern buildings, 55 colored steel houses in total. We will take them down by February of next year."

As part of the preserve effort, the museum has held the biggest fire-drill ever.

Director Shan says that most of the sturctures are made of wood, so fire safety is the foremost important thing for the palace. Since it was built 600 years ago, the palace has seen nearly a hundred fire incidents, leading to numerous rounds of reconstruction.