Lost Treasure Returns Home

A bronze horse head sculpture, a treasure of China’s Old Summer Palace that went missing after Anglo-french allied forces’ looting 160 years ago, finally returned to its original palace home on December 1, 2020.

This is the first time a long lost important cultural relic from the Old Summer Palace, or Yuanmingyuan, has been returned to and housed at its original location after being repatriated from overseas. Twelve animal head sculptures once formed a zodiac water clock in Beijing’s Yuanmingyuan, built by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The original artifacts disappeared from the royal garden when the Anglo-french allied forces looted and ransacked the palace in 1860 during the Second Opium War (1856-1860).

The horse head, designed by the Italian artist Giuseppe Castiglione and crafted by royal craftsmen, is an artistic blend of East and West. Macao billionaire Stanley Ho bought the bronze horse head and decided to donate it to the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) and return it to its original home.

An exhibition commemorating the return of the horse head has been launched at a temple in Yuanmingyuan, displaying about 100 items including cultural relics and photographs.

“There is an international consensus on returning lost cultural relics to their original homes, and China’s efforts to bring cultural relics home during recent years have enhanced that consensus,” said He Yan, chair of the Beijing Urban Planning Society.