Treasures of Imperial China. Central Plains between Han and Tang Dynasties (206 B.C. - 907 A.D.)

From the 16th of July 2015 to the 28th of February 2016, the halls of the Fifteenth-century Refectory of Palazzo Venezia will showcase the masterpieces of the Henan Provincial Museum, one of the largest museums of the People's Republic of China. The exhibition will tell of the passage from the Han Dynasty – when today’s China began to take shape – to the Golden Age of the Tang Dynasty (581 AD – 907 AD). More than 100 pieces will be displayed, including a funerary robe with 2,000 jade listels woven with gold threads, and then lacquers, glazed earthenware, vases, objects made of gold, silver and jadeite. They attest to the extraordinary prosperity and cultural openness of the Tang era, when the capital of the Empire, known today as Xi'an, was the crossroads of all trades, it used to receive ambassadors of the world and housed over a million people.
The exhibition was organized by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of the People’s Republic of China (SACH), by General Directorate of Museums of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism of the Italian Republic (MiBACT) and by the Polo Museale of Lazio, in collaboration with the Provincial Government of Henan. It is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Italy and by the MiBACT.
The exhibition is part of the Memorandum of Understanding on Partnership for the Promotion of Cultural Heritage signed on October 7, 2010 by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism of the Italian Republic and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of the People's Republic of China. The Memorandum provides for the exchange of showcasing spaces dedicated to the Chinese and Italian cultures, as to promote cultural exchange between China and Italy and to allow a greater and deeper understanding between the two peoples. The Directorate General for the enhancement of cultural heritage was granted the first, significant Italian museum abroad by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of the Republic of China in the National Museum China in Tian' anmen Square in Beijing. This permanent showcase already displayed the exhibitions "Renaissance in Florence. Masterpieces and Protagonists" in 2012 and "Rome 17th Century: Towards Baroque" in 2014.
The exhibition "Treasures of Imperial China" displayed this year at Palazzo Venezia is the third of five included in the agreement, after "Archaic China" and "The legendary tombs of Mawangdui".

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