The Shaanxi Historical Museum

Situated one kilometre north-west of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xian's southern suburb, the Shaanxi Provincial History Museum is built in a striking Tang-Dynasty style pavilion. It houses a massive collection of 113,000 historic and cultural artifacts unearthed in Shaanxi Province. It is an absolute must for every visitor to the city.

The main complex consists of ancient palaces and elegant courtyard buildings. The exhibition halls are divided into three parts: Basic Exhibition Hall, the Theme Exhibition Hall and East Exhibition Hall. The museum features ancient artifacts from different dynasties such as Han, Wei, Jin, North and South, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, including the pre-historical items, terra cotta figures and murals from the tombs of the Tang Dynasty. The museum has the computer-controlled, international symposium hall providing spontaneous interpretation into six different languages.

Basic Exhibition Hall

This hall focuses on the pre-history relics found in Shaanxi and artifacts from the dynasties of the Zhou, the Qin, the Han and the Tang. The exhibition is divided into seven parts starting from the Stone Age, the dynasties of the Zhou, the Qin, the Han, the Wei, the Jin, the South and North Dynasty, the Sui, the Tang, the Song, the Yuan, the Ming and the Qing.

East Exhibition Hall

This hall holds several exhibitions including "The Zhaoling Mausoleum's Fine Cultural Relics Exhibition", "The Tang Dynasty's Tomb Real Murals Exhibition", "Grand Exhibition of Gold and Silver Vessels from the Tang Dynasty", "Exhibition of Costumes of Women in the Tang Dynasty", "Exhibition of Cultural Relics of Empress Wu Zetian and Women in the Tang dynasty" etc.

Theme Exhibition Hall

This 2,500 square meter hall features various types of theme exhibitions with a focus on Shaanxi local cultural characteristics. Many exhibitions such as "Shaanxi Fine Bronze Objects Exhibition" and "Many Dynasties' Fine Terra-cotta Figures Exhibition" are displayed here.