THE original campus of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in Yangpu District will be handed back to the "Cradle of Musicians" before its 90th birthday on November 17 next year, said officials.

Under an agreement signed yesterday by the administration and the district government, the campus at No.918 Minjing Road will be home to a new advanced music research institute named after its former president, He Luting, which was established last month.

Construction of the campus was finished in 1935, but the school was forced to close in August 1937 after its main building and dorm were destroyed by the Japanese military during World War II.