Shaanxi Provincial History Museum

The Shaanxi Provincial History Museum (or Shaanxi History Museum) is located in the vicinity of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an. It is a modern, state-class museum with an area about 65,000 square meters and a floor space of 56,000 square meters. The museum houses a large collection from the prehistory to the modern times including a big collection of rare relics unearthed in Shaanxi Province.

The Shaanxi Provincial History Museum recreates the Tang Dynasty architectural style and successfully shows the great extent of Shaanxi history and its remarkable culture to its visitors. It has in its collection more than 115,000 unearthed historical relics (of which only 3,000 are now on display). The most representative of these include bronze wares, tomb murals, pottery figurines, ceramic wares, building materials, bronze mirrors, gold and silver wares, and ancient coins.

Bronze Wares: In the Shaanxi History Museum, the more than 3,900 pieces of bronze wares include the music instruments, weapons, horses and chariots, wares for fete, living utensils and tools of production. They span the time from Shang Dynasty to the Han Dynasty, of which the wares of Shang and Zhou dynasties are most typical. They all bearing valuable historical inscriptions such as the Duoyou Tripod (Tripod is a common three-legged ancient Chinese cooking vessel, called ding in Chinese.) and Shixian Tripod. Some has very unique shape, such as the Ox-shaped Wine Vessel, the Pitcher with Bird-shaped Lid, and the Painted Lamp with Goose and Fish Shape etc.

Tomb Murals of the Tang Dynasty: Over 400 exhibited murals were dug up from the tombs of the royal family and court officers in the Tang Dynasty. They are fluid in concept and line, each with an exquisite composition and bright colors. Most the murals depict Tang customs, life of the royal family, foreign affairs, hunting, buildings, guards of honor, Chinese sacred animals and so on. These superb works of art are considered the references to study the Tang culture.

Pottery Figurines: About 2,000 pieces of pottery figurines are showed in the museum, which were made in the Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, North and South, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuang, Ming and Qing Dynasties including the non-colored potteries, color painted potteries, glazed potteries and tri-colored glazed potteries. And their images consist of officers, warriors, outrider, servants, Turkestan people, heaven gods, tomb-guarded animals, and many animals.

Ceramic Wares: More than 5,000 registered ceramic wares have been kept in the Shaanxi Provincial History Museum contains the faience pottery (from the Yangshao ruins), primitive celadon porcelain of the Western Zhou Dynasty, glazed pottery of the Han Dynasty, tri-colored glazed wares of the Tang Dynasty, ancient glass wares, colored glazed wares, secret color wares of the Tang Dynasty, celadon porcelain of the Song Dynasty etc. These wares can be subdivided into living utensils, stationery, mortuary objects and so forth.

Building Materials through all Dynasties: Approximately 1,000 building materials range from the Zhou Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty are kept in the Shaanxi History Museum. These materials are earthen tiles, eaves-tile ornaments, bricks, Zhaowei, aqueduct, lapidarian materials, metallic building components etc.

Bronze Mirrors: As many as 800 ancient bronze mirrors are collected in the Shaanxi Museum. They featured their unique shapes, beautiful patterns and the propitious words. They belong to different dynasties.

Gold, Silver and Jade Wares: The superlative 2,000 selected gold, silver and jade wares in the Shaanxi History Museum are incomparable in the world. Some most famous such as the jade wares for fete of the Zhou Dynasty, Gold Wood-Pecker, Octagonal-Petal Gilded Silver Cup with Musicians, Gold Dragons in Running Position, Brass Incense Burner with Gold Bamboo Joints and Dragons, Silver Pot with a Gold Dancing Horse who Holds a Cup in Mouth, Beast-Head-Shaped Agate Cup...too many to count.

Ancient Coins: The ancient coins that collected in the Shaanxi Provincial History Museum are numerous. Among only 10,000 pieces are registered, over 50,000 pieces and 7,000-kilogram coins are not registered. These coins are different in materials and unique shapes, fewer coins are from China's surrounding countries.

Apart from the above exhibits, many cultural relics are on display in the Shaanxi Provincial Historical Museum, such as calligraphy, rubbings, woven articles, scrolls, bone articles, seals, wooden wares, lacquer wares, iron wares, stone objects, as well as some contemporary cultural relics and ethnic objects.