Shaanxi History Museum, which is located to the northwest of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in the ancient cityXi'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, 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.
History
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.
The Empress's Seal, a jade seal from the Western Han Dynasty, excavated near the tomb of Emperor Gao Zu, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty — one of the most important imperial seals ever found in China.
Gallery
File:Xi'anviewpic4.jpg|Zhou Dynasty gold Bianzhong File:Xi'anviewpic7.jpg|Ceramic tomb figure of a horse in sancai glaze File:Xi'anviewpic13.jpg|Tomb figures of ladies File:Gold monster.jpg|Gold Monster from the Han Dynasty File:Zhongshan Grottoes.jpg|Statues from Zhongshan Grottoes File:Painted Honor Guards.jpg|Painted tomb figures of guardians of Prince Qinjian from the Ming Dynasty File:Terracotta army museum.jpg|Soldiers from the Terracotta Army File:Gilt silver jar with pattern of dancing horses.jpg|Gilt silver jar with patterns of dancing horses, from the Tang Dynasty, Hejia Village hoard File:ShiErShengXiao Shaanxi History Museum.JPG|Sculptures of the twelve Chinese zodiac figures, from the Tang Dynasty File:Tang Mirror Shaanxi History Museum.JPG|The back of a Tang Dynasty bronze mirror File:TangSanCai Shaanxi History Museum.JPG|Tang Sancai tomb figures File:唐-玛瑙兽首杯.jpg|An agate cup shaped in an animal head, from the Tang Dynasty, Hejia Village hoard
