Are the exhibits in the museum authentic?

Whenever we enter a city museum and see the exhibits quietly displayed in the showcases, we feel the profundity of our nation's culture and the long-lasting history. However, some people may wonder, since it has been thousands of years, are all the exhibits in the museum authentic? How have they been preserved for so long without being damaged? This article will tell you about the exhibits in museums.

In fact, most of the exhibits in museums are authentic, but some have indeed been damaged by human activities (such as tomb robbery) or geological disasters or natural factors like carbonization, and cannot be displayed in their original form. In such cases, the museums display 1:1 high-quality replicas of the original artifacts, made by cultural relic experts and technicians.

These replicas are not counterfeit products. They are fundamentally different from the imitation cultural relics sold at street stalls or ancient town scenic spots. First, they are legal replicas made for the purpose of protecting the original artifacts, not for commercial sale, but to allow the public to understand the historical significance and value of these artifacts. Second, their production is very strict. The replicas are made in a 1:1 ratio to the original artifacts, and whether made by hand or using high-tech methods, the process is extremely complex, with even the texture and patterns needing to correspond exactly to the originals. Furthermore, the approval process for making replicas is much stricter than for ordinary handicraft enterprises producing imitation cultural relics for sale. It requires layer upon layer of approval from cultural relic authorities and government departments, as well as consent from the institution housing the original artifact, before the original can be taken out for high-precision replication or restoration. So these replicas are fundamentally different from the imitation handicrafts circulating in the market.

he above mainly discusses replicas of bronze wares or ceramic artifacts. For ancient silk or calligraphy and painting works, it is even more common to display replicated works copied by later famous calligraphers and painters. This is because ancient artifacts like calligraphy, paintings, and silk are very susceptible to damage from light and non-constant temperatures, and even human breath can harm them. Moreover, the environmental conditions in modern museums cannot always meet the strict technical requirements of being absolutely dust-free, with filtered strong light and absolutely constant temperature. Therefore, those very old calligraphy, painting, and silk exhibits are often replicas made by later cultural relic experts and famous calligraphers and painters copying the ancient works. Genuine treasures are rarely put on display in ordinary museums, and even when original calligraphy or painting works are exhibited, it is usually only for a few days every few years. For example, more than a decade ago, when the Qingming Shanghe Tu (Along the River During the Qingming Festival) scroll was exhibited at the Palace Museum in Beijing, the original was only shown to the public for 3 days, while for most of the time, the exhibited version was a replica copied by Qing dynasty calligraphers and painters.