Beijing, March 30 (IANS): Beijing's Palace Museum will digitise its entire collection and make the images available to the public.

The Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, had 1,862,690 antiques and relics in its collection by the end of 2016, Xinhua news agency reported.

At present, only 400,000 have been photographed, museum director Shan Jixiang was quoted as saying by the Beijing News on Thursday.

The museum plans to photograph each item from multiple angles and make the pictures available to the public, said Shan, citing a similar programme run by the British Museum, which released over one million images to the public.

In February 2015, the Palace Museum launched an app to showcase its collection.

The app features one item from the collection every day, allowing users to learn more about the pieces and discover more about traditional Chinese craftsmanship.

English users can search for "The Palace Museum" in the iPhone App Store and download it for free.