A state-run drug maker in China that came under fire for constructing a luxurious palace worthy of a Colombian cartel is now claiming that photos of the building posted online are part of an internal museum.

Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Sixth Pharm Factory, a state-owned firm based in northeast China's Heilongjiang province, recently published a set of photos on its official website revealing its factory sumptuously awash in yellow gold and marble.

In the lobby, two plainly dressed couples--presumably employees--are shown dwarfed by four marble columns thick as tree trunks. Over them looms a triple-tiered crystal chandelier hung from the gold-plated ceiling. A photo of an indoor terrace resembles a concert hall with its white baby grand. The meeting rooms, meanwhile, have been outfitted with luxurious Chinese traditional furniture in mahogany and wooden lanterns.

The gorgeous photos have quickly drawn a barrage of criticism from Chinese Internet users for its lavish spending on the building.

"It's a palace which is built on the pain of millions of patients," one internet poster with the online pseudonym Medical Pioneer 2 said on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblogging site. Another web user who gave the name Mo Xi wrote: "Now I finally know why Chinese people can't afford to go to the doctor and buy medicines."