Shaanxi History Museum


The Shaanxi History Museum is situated on Yan Ta Road in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province. It is a
giant architectural complex in the Tang-dynasty style. It occupies an area of 70,000 square
meters, and the construction area being more than 50,000 square meters. It focuses on the
highlights of the Shaanxi culture and depicts the development of the Chinese civilization.

The Museum's permanent exhibition primarily displays Shaanxi's ancient history.
Representative pieces from all periods have been selected to show the development of
civilization in this region. The exhibition space is duct into such halls as an introductory hall,
permanent exhibition hall, special exhibition hall, and temporary exhibition hall, as well as one
that has been called the National Painting Hall.

These works systematically show the ancient history of Shaanxi from 150,000 years ago to the
year 1840. Because Xian were once the several their capitals on Shaanxi territory, such as Zhou, Qin, Western Han, Sui and Tang, the exhibits
have stress on these periods and these places. This not only show the span of culture in ancient Shaanxi, it also show the highest level of cultural
development of China's social economy.

The special exhibition hall is located on the west side of the museum. Its first two exhibitions were a Shaanxi bronzes exhibit (260 were on display)
and a Shaanxi-through-the-dynasties terracotta masterpieces exhibit (341 objects were exhibited). The area of this hall is around 2,600 square
meters.

The temporary exhibition hall on the east side of the museum, has various exhibitions covering Tang-tomb
wall paintings. Shaanxi's wall murals of this kind takes the first placw in the whole country. They are rich in
concept and line, they have rich details. They both show Tang customs and are superb works of art.

The Museum has established a science and technology center for the preservation of cultural relics. It has
an advanced technology of examination and laboratory test and the means of repair and restoration. To
promote international cultural exchanges, it has also set up a computer-controlled, international symposium
hall where six different languages can be employed in the spontaneous interpretation. Since it was opened
to the public in 1991, its architectural buildings, internal apparatus, and exhibits have made it famous as a
first-class museum in China.