As one of the most important cradles for the origin of Chinese nation and the Huaxia civilization, Shaanxi Province possesses a wide range of ideological hallmarks and natural landmarks of Chinese civilization, China’s history of revolution, and Chinese geography, including the Mausoleum of the Huangdi Emperor, the Terracotta Army, the Yan’an Pagoda, the Qinling Mountains, the Huashan Mountains, and so forth. Fourteen historical dynasties including the Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang dynasties founded their capitals and flourished here. The rich cultural heritage and profound cultural achievements stimulated the formation of distinctive historical and cultural ethos in Shaanxi. Regarded as ‘the pearl of the ancient city and treasury of the Huaxia civilization’, the Shaanxi History Museum is the art pavilion to curate and exhibit Shaanxi’s historical culture and ancient Chinese civilization.
The Shaanxi History Museum is situated to the northwestern side of the Tang-dynasty Wild Goose Pagoda in the southern suburb of Xi’an City. The construction of the museum started in 1983 and completed in 1991. It was opened to the public on 20th June of 1991. As China’s first national-level modern museum, the construction of the Shaanxi History Museum marked a milestone development of museum industry in China. The museum is boasted with a cluster of Tang-style architecture, with a pavilion in the center and tower buildings in the four corners. The main and affiliated buildings are orderly aligned, high and low with a solemn atmosphere. The architecture cluster is a great combination of national tradition, local style and contemporary spirit. The museum is 6.5 hectare in size, the architecture area measures 5.56 hectare, the warehouse is ca. 8000㎡ in size, whilst the exhibition hall measures c.1.1 hectare. The museum houses ca. 1.7m pieces (sets) of artefacts with the chronological timespan ranging from more than one million years to the present. The diverse range of artefacts are of high quality and great historical values. Some of the highlights of the collection include the awe-inspiring Shang-and-Zhou dynasty bronzes that are the testimony of a great ritual and musical civilization, the ceramic figurines that vividly denote colourful kaleidoscope-like ancient lives, and the elegant gold and silver objects that materializes heydays of the Han and Tang dynasties. The museum’s unparalleled collection of Tang dynasty mural paintings is of particular characteristic.
The Shaanxi History Museum is a comprehensive historical museum. Since its opening, it has greatly emphasized on its advantage of rich and diverse collection and adhered to the principle of ‘conservation as the main task, rescue as the priority, appropriate utilization, and enhanced management’. It organically integrates social education, curation and conservation, scientific research and industrial development and organizes different kinds of exhibitions. It now has permanent exhibitions, special thematic exhibitions, and regular temporary exhibitions. This wide array of exhibitions complements to each other and displays the great achievements of the Huaxia civilization from multiple perspectives.
As the first set of China’s ‘4A’ tourist attractions, the Shaanxi History Museum continues to attract numerous domestic and international visitors for its copious collection, impressive exhibitions, beautiful environment and great service. It has become one of the most important windows to disseminate great cultures of Chinese nation and for cultural exchanges between China and other countries.
In the new era, as the culture pavilion of cultural relics of Shaanxi, the Shaanxi History Museum will continue to focus on high-quality development and make greater contributions to the great rejuvenation of Chinese nation and the building of the community of shared future for mankind with its vigorous and vibrant brand new look.