 |
| Above, one of the gates to Nijo Castle. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
When I saw the following story, I had to think a bit about when we visited Nijo Castle in Kyoto, Japan with the first G-TOUR.
That was in 2004, 20 years ago. We toured the castle and experienced its "nightingale floors" which were designed to alert the castle's residents of possible assassins by their squeaks during Japan's feudal period.
Asahi Shimbun posted an article on the reopening of one of the palace buildings after 17 years.
They begin with:
KYOTO—One of the main buildings at Nijo-jo Castle here, a UNESCO World Heritage site, will reopen to the public on Sept. 1 after being closed for 17 years, the city government announced on June 17.
The castle’s Honmaru-goten Palace was closed to the public in 2007 due to concerns about its earthquake resilience, following damage caused by the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.
Since 2017, the city has invested 1.56 billion yen ($9.89 million) to reinforce the structure and to restore its paintings. The renovation work was completed in March this year.
This will be the first time that the palace has been open to the public year-round. Prior to its 2007 closure, it was open only twice a year.
To read more, go here.
No comments:
Post a Comment