Shaanxi History Museum

Shaanxi History Museum, which is located to the northwest of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in the ancient city Xi'an, in the Shaanxi province of China, is one of the first huge state museums with modern facilities in China and one of the largest. The museum houses over 370,000 items,[2] including murals, paintings, pottery, coins, as well as bronze, gold, and silver objects. The modern museum was built between 1983 and 2001 and its appearance recalls the architectural style of the Tang Dynasty.

Not to be confused with Shanxi Museum.

Shaanxi History Museum
陕西历史博物馆
Established20 June 1991
LocationXi'an, Shaanxi, China
Visitors2,713,465 (2017)[1]
DirectorCheng Jianzheng (成建正)
Websitewww.sxhm.com (in Chinese)
e.sxhm.com (English)

History
Main exhibition hall of the museum
Detail of the museum's architecture

Shaanxi History Museum was constructed from 1983. It was opened to the public on 20 June 1991. The museum is in an area of 65,000 square meters, with a building area of 55,600 square meters, cultural relics storerooms of 8,000 square meters, exhibition halls of 11,000 square meters, and a collection of 370,000 objects. The museum is architecturally in the Tang style, with a "hall in center, storied buildings in corners". It is elegant and dignified, on a large scale, with a combination of traditional architecture and modern technology, which embodies folk tradition and local features.

Shaanxi was the ancient imperial capital of China, having been the seat of more than 13 feudal dynasties, including the Zhou, Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties. The province is rich in cultural relics. With the completion of the Shaanxi History Museum, it collected over 370,000 precious relics which were unearthed in Shaanxi Province, including bronze wares, pottery figures, and mural paintings in Tang tombs. In particular there are large numbers of pottery Tang dynasty tomb figures from the tombs of the imperial family around the city.

Since the opening of the museum, it has followed the policy of collecting, conservation, publicizing, education, and scientific research, using its many historical relics, and conducted various types of display. The relics have also been exhibited overseas in cities in Japan, France, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany.

Collection highlights

Highlights of the museum include:

  • Zhou Dynasty gold Bianzhong
  • Ceramic tomb figure of a horse in sancai glaze
  • Tomb figures of ladies
  • Gold stag with eagle's head, and ten further heads in the antlers. An object inspired by the art of the Siberian Altai mountain, possibly Pazyryk, unearthed at the site of Nalinggaotu, Shenmu County, near Xi'an, China.[3] Possibly Hunnic in origin. Dated to the Han Dynasty period.[4]
  • Statues from Zhongshan Grottoes (钟山石窟)
  • Painted tomb figures of guardians of Prince Qinjian from the Ming Dynasty
  • Soldiers from the Terracotta Army
  • Gilt silver jar with patterns of dancing horses, from the Tang Dynasty, Hejia Village hoard
  • Sculptures of the twelve Chinese zodiac figures, from the Tang Dynasty
  • The back of a Tang Dynasty bronze mirror
  • Tang Sancai tomb figures
  • An agate cup shaped in an animal head, from the Tang Dynasty, Hejia Village hoard

Location

The address of the museum is 91 East XiaoZhai Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China.

See also

References
  1. 博物馆 城市的文化客厅 (in Chinese). Xinhua News Agency. 24 February 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  2. "Introduction of the Museum". Shaanxi History Museum.
  3. Rawson, Jessica (1999). "Design Systems in Early Chinese Art". Orientations: 52.
  4. "Shaanxi History Museum notice". Shaanxi History Museum.

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