Construction of the world's first undersea museum

China is planning to build a giant museum to preserve and display an ancient shipwreck. This unique museum will contain a more than 800-year-old shipwreck and its treasures.

Archaeologists say the boat is China's most interesting underwater excavation result. Named Southern Sea Number One , it is located 24 meters deep underwater and 2 meters deep in sandy soil. More than 6,000 rare objects have been unearthed from a small room in the ship since 2002.

Guangdong provincial government has now allocated £ 10 million to build an underwater museum that includes five large rooms to protect the wreck.

"We estimate the ship contains a total of 60,000 to 80,000 treasures , " said Wei Jun, director of the Guangdong Provincial Underwater Archeology. " Since the ship and its treasure have been under water for a long time, it is better to keep them down there."

Experts said the ship could be broken if exposed to air, so they would put it all in a 5,000-ton steel container and transfer it to the underwater museum.

Construction has begun and the officials hope to open the door to visitors in the middle of next year.

MT