Published by: World Tibet Network News, Friday, October 11, 1996

HONG KONG, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- A new museum in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa is scheduled to open July 1, one of 62 projects China Report said Friday.

Construction work on the principle portion of the $12 million museum complex was completed recently, the China News Service said. The building will be equipped with modern equipment and safety devices and officials promise it "will even surpass the new museums being built in Shanghai and Shandong."

The museum includes a 36,598-square-foot grand hall, while the first floor will house two permanent exhibitions of Tibet's history and natural resources. Five smaller exhibition rooms on the second floor will be used to display a variety of Tibetan cultural relics, treasures and crafts.

Tibet has at least 1,600 major historical and cultural sites. Experts believe there may be more than 1 million precious cultural relics in the region that have not yet been properly catalogued and protected.