Wuhan Art Museum reopens after city ends lockdown

The Wuhan Art Museum in Central China's Hubei Province officially reopened on Sunday after closing its doors for almost five months due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The museum opened with strict epidemic prevention and control measures similar to those seen at the Hubei Provincial Museum and Hubei Museum of Art, which reopened on June 14. 

Li Xia, an employee of the museum, told the Global Times on Sunday that visitors need to make an appointment for tickets and must have their temperatures taken before entering the museum. According to regulations, public areas including offices, conference rooms, corridors, elevators and toilets must be regularly disinfected.

"The number of visitors will be limited to 200 for a half-a-day visit. A total 292 tourists have visited our art museum today," she said and noted that she was moved that so many people still come for a visit although the weather was rainy.

According to Li, the museum is currently hosting two exhibitions: Wuhan Impression and Tongxin Zhanyi (Fighting the Epidemic Together). 

Wuhan Impression originally debuted in 2009 and features more than 70 artworks depicting the city.

Unfortunately, the well-known watercolor artist Liu Shouxiang, whose painting of Wuhan's landmark Yellow Crane Tower is on display at the exhibition, passed away from COVID-19 in February at the age of 62. Exhibition curator Chen Yongjing, also a student of Liu's, expressed his sorrow over his teacher's passing, according to a report from Chinese news site The Paper.

Tongxin Zhanyi, the first new exhibition to be held in a museum in Wuhan since the lockdown, features more than 150 paintings, calligraphies and photographies related to the COVID-19 epidemic in the city.

Shut down on January 22, the museum was originally scheduled to hold more than 30 exhibitions in 2020. However, due to the outbreak of coronavirus, Li said, museums in Wuhan and throughout the rest of the world have to adjust their schedule by combining online and offline exhibitions.