China Red Sandalwood Museum

The China Red Sandalwood Museum is the first and largest private museum in China dedicated to the collection, research, exhibition, and appreciation of red sandalwood art, as well as the appreciation of traditional Chinese classical furniture. The museum was built over two years by Ms. Chen Lihua, a national inheritor of the 'Red Sandalwood Carving Skills' intangible cultural heritage, and officially opened to the public on September 19, 1999. The museum consists of a large complex of Ming and Qing dynasty buildings. The main gate of the museum is constructed from over 400 cubic meters of timber, with four supporting columns that are 8 meters high and 0.6 meters thick. The scale and materials of the museum are rare among Beijing's antique-style buildings. The main building of the museum uses a brick grinding and jointing technique that is accurate to the millimeter. The square in front of the museum covers more than 1,000 square meters and features a sea-style Dou board ground - laid with large blue bricks and soaked in tung oil. Ms. Chen Lihua specifically hired woodwork, tilework, and painting experts who had been working at the Palace Museum since the early days of the People's Republic of China to oversee the entire project. After visiting, one feels that there is only one word to describe it: truly magnificent