Inauguration of the Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an

In the context of the work to enhance the Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, through an international competition announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Italian Republic, in 2008 Goppion S.p.A. was selected to create the layout design of the Tang Dynasty Mural Painting Hall, the museological and museographic projects of which had previously been coordinated by Italian Cooperation for Development. On the conclusion of the renovation work accomplished on the Museum in Xi'an during the last three years, on 20 June its inauguration has been held in the presence of the Chinese authorities and with the participation of the Goppion delegates.

The Shaanxi History Museum, among the most important museum institutions in the People’s Republic of China, has availed itself of the Italian company for the study and realisation of the exhibition cases that display the extremely delicate mural paintings of the Tang Period (618 - 907 AD) found in the imperial tombs in the north-western region of the country.

Laboratorio Museotecnico, the research and development department of Goppion, has built airtight cases of large dimensions - up to 12 metres long and 5 metres high - with special hinges able to manage the opening of glass doors weighing over 400 kg for the Shaanxi History Museum. These are display cases fitted with sophisticated systems to stabilise and control the interior microclimate following the most rigid parameters of the preventive conservation of ancient artworks.

The paintings depict moments in the life of court and concern a period of great cultural and artistic ferment that characterised the kingdom of the Tang Dynasty, which saw, among other things, the birth of porcelain. Goppion is not new to the making safe of Chinese historical-artistic heritage: the treasures of the Cernuschi Museum in Paris, among the most important museums of Asian art in France and Europe, the precious sculptures of the Jade Gallery in the British Museum in London and the collections of the Chinese section of the MAO in Turin are all conserved in Goppion display cases.

Extraordinary technological expertise combined with an artisan culture that are typical of this beautiful country’s companies have placed Goppion in the group of outstanding Italian firms that have been called upon to take part in the “Forum on technologies for the cultural heritage” held on the occasion of the Universal Exposition of Shanghai 2010 and contribute to the drafting of the Xi'an notebooks, which document the activities performed by the partners of the Italo-Chinese initiative in the sphere of the project for the creation of the Tang mural painting Section of the Shaanxi History Museum.