Xi’An, Shaanxi History Museum, Tang Dynasty Mural Painting Exhibition Hall.

122 glass cases, produced by the Goppion Laboratorio Museotecnico in Milan, will be protecting the wall paintings of the Dynasty (618 – 907 AD), discovered in the imperial tombs of Xi’An. They are extra-large glass cases – up to 12 metres long and 5 metres high) that have called for the development of special hinge systems that are able to manage the opening of crystal doors that are over 400 kilos in weight.

The first 8 containers were sent at the beginning of February and they arrived, from the port of Savona by sea, after two months at the port of Tianjing. They travelled for a further 2,500 kilometres inland until they arrived at the capital city of the Province of Shaanxi.

A team of Chinese technicians that had been trained in the Goppion Laboratorio Museotecnico for a month beforehand worked with the 5-member assembly team coming from Italy, coordinated by Camillo Pezzini, the Project Manager, right up until the end of the works scheduled for August. All the glass cases are equipped with an air filter system, active humidity control and temperature maintenance. The lighting is LED lighting and special lenses have been applied that distribute light in a uniform way over the work of art.