Shaanxi History Museum
The Shaanxi History Museum in Xi’an, regarded as ‘the pearl of ancient dynasties and house of Chinese treasures’, gives a miniature overview of the thousands of years of Chinese history and the splendid ancient cultures of olden times.
Situated on Xiaozhai East Road on the northwest side of Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, the Shaanxi History Museum is the first modern national museum. It was built in 1983 and opened to the public in 1991. Shaanxi History Museum covers 65,000 square meters (16 acres), of which 11,000 square meters (207 acres) belong to the exhibition halls and 8,000 square meters (about 2 acres) are used as warehouses for storing relics. Now 370,000 exhibits in the museum vividly show the history of over a million years from prehistoric times (1,150,000 years ago – 21st Century BC) to about 1840 AD.
The grand buildings of Shaanxi History Museum imitate the architectural style of the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907) with a two-storied central hall and four worship halls around it. The predominant colors of the halls are black, white and grey, which give the halls an atmosphere of solemnity and rustic charm.
The exhibition halls of Shaanxi History Museum are generally divided into four main groups; the Preface Hall, the permanent exhibition halls, the temporary exhibition halls, and an exhibition hall for Tang Mural Paintings. Once you enter the central hall, you will be in the Preface Hall, where stands 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. Behind the picture you will find the permanent exhibition halls.
Permanent Exhibition Halls in Shaanxi History Museum shows the Shaanxi’s culture in the timeline in three exhibition halls seperately.
Address: No.91 Xiaozhai East Road, Yata District, Xi’an, China, 710061 西安雁塔区小寨东路91号
Entrance price: Free.
Reserve tickets on: https://ticket.sxhm.com/ww/index. Getting there: Metro line 2 or 3 and get off at Xiaozhai station. Opening hours: Tue – Sun: 9:00 – 17:30 (Nov. 15th to Mar. 15th) last admission 16:00 and 8:30 – 18:00 (Mar. 16th to Nov 14th) last admission 16:30.
