A senior official overseeing world heritage said Wednesday that a newly-designed museum will not damage the world heritage property in the 2,500-year-old city of Suzhou.

Francesco Bandarin, director of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Center (WHC), said, "We are not against all changes in the world heritage sites, and we are not freezing areas."

The city government plans to build a new history museum adjacent to a 500-year-old garden, or the Humble Administrator's Garden which was listed as a World Heritage site in 1997, in the scenic city of east China's Jiangsu Province.

The new museum, which is scheduled to exhibit relics of the cultural heritage-rich city, has already cost a local hospital building and shabby houses nearby. The cost is harmless and even beneficial, said Bandarin. "The building has a quality of good architecture and it replaces the previous building which was not appropriate."

An expert team mandated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) said the museum is appropriate after an on-site investigation.

Xu Wentao, director of the city's garden administration, said the design of the museum was approved by his administration, one necessary gatekeeper for any changes to heritage sites in the city.

The museum is in good match of the garden in its architecture, style and color, Xu said.

According to the urban planning to the year of 2010, the ancient zone would not grow in size. The city government also rules that no new buildings in the ancient zone could reach a height over 24 meters.

"The design of gardens in Suzhou is one of the important and famous living architecture in the world," Bandarin said. "A museum could become a complement to the garden for tourists and visitors."

He said the local administration has done a "very careful project" on the museum, which was designed by I. M. Pei.

"Very often people talk about it because they haven't seen it," said Bandarin, citing that he didn't see any problems with the new museum.

"Of course," he said, "we look very carefully at what the problems are and what the changes are in proposals."

Source: Xinhua