Shaanxi History Museum

The Shaanxi History Museum in Xi’an, China explores the history of the Shaanxi region and contains over 350,000 pieces dating back as far as the Neolithic period.

Divided chronologically, the museum has dedicated rooms for, amongst others, the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the Qin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty. Most of the collection at the Shaanxi History Museum is made up of gold and silver artefacts as well as ceramics and ancient coins.

Translation within the Shaanxi History Museum is fairly good and it does have quite a few English panels.

History of Shaanxi History Museum

The Shaanxi History Museum is situated on the northwest side of the ancient and holy Buddhist site the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda.

The museum was built in 1983 and was opened to the public in 1991. It features more than 370,000 historical relics predominantly from the Zhou to the Tang periods (1100BC to 907AD) over 65,000 square metres of space.

The province of Shaanxi was the ancient imperial capital of China, having been the seat of more than 13 feudal dynasties. It is therefore rich in cultural relics, with its precious items including bronze wares, pottery figures, mural paintings from Tang tombs, and an especially large collection of pottery figures from Tang tombs of the imperial family.

The buildings of the Shaanxi History Museum imitate the architectural style of the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD), with a two-storied central hall and four worship halls around it. The halls are predominantly black, white, and grey, which indicate an atmosphere of solemnity and rustic charm.

Shaanxi History Museum Today

Today, visitors can enjoy the museum’s fantastic collection of artefacts.

The exhibition halls of the museum are broadly divided into four sections: the Preface Hall, which contains a replica of a stone lion from the Shunling Tomb of the Tang Dynasty and a huge picture of a loess plateau and the Yellow River, the permanent exhibition halls, the temporary exhibition halls, and an exhibition hall for Tang Mural paintings.

Having a tour guide is recommended, and audio guides are available.

Getting to Shaanxi History Museum

From the centre of Shaanxi, take the buses 5, 19, 24, 30, 34, 271, 400, 401, 521, 527, or You 8 (610) and get off at Cuihua Lu (Cuihua Road) bus stop. By metro, take metro line 2 or 3 to Xiaozhai Station, and exit from Exit D.

Then, walk east along East Xiaozhai Road around 800 meters to get there. It is also possible to drive, though the traffic around the site is very congested.