Traveler Description
This history museum, housed in a magnificent Confucian Temple, features more than 370,000 pieces of historical relics mainly from the Zhou to the Tang periods (1100B.C. to 907 A.D.).

Address: 91 Xiaozai E Rd
Phone: 85219422

http://www.sxhm.com/e_bwgdl_ld.htm

Traveler Reviews

Interesting, but a bit too much!
Reviewed by A TripAdvisor Member on Sep 10, 2008


Shaanxi History Museum is actually much larger than I expected it to be, and there are literally thousands of exhibits on display. So it was impossible for us to take in more than just a small part of it in the short time we had available. I have to admit that even though I found some parts of the museum very interesting, I quickly got tired of walking around the dimply lit rooms. There was of course a great deal to see, but many of the exhibits were very similar and I neither had the time nor the interest to study each item in the detail required to appreciate the differences.

A gem of a museum - a must do
Reviewed by A TripAdvisor Member on May 27, 2008


We did not know what to expect at this museum, so were absolutely delighted by the splendours within -- everything from the pre-historical period to the Tang dynasty. There are amazing items in the collection. We were there on a Tuesday afternoon and it was free. Not sure if that's the case all the time or just Tuesdays. It's closed on Mondays. There are plenty of English descriptions and there are short films in each room that are very entertaining and well made (subtitled in English). No need for a guide for us. We were fine on our own. We spent about three hours there and it felt sufficient, and yes, we did haggle a bit at the gift shop. Highly recommend this site. It's really a must do

A brief visit to the Shaanxi Provincial History Museum
Reviewed by A TripAdvisor Member on May 10, 2007


This is a museum which is currently undergoing an internal re-construction. Guidebooks I've seen say that there is some English: we had a guide who was desperate to show us her local knowledge but I found her English was a little too limited to match my knowledge of the Tang Dynasty. Also she was trying to cram in far too much in the 30 minutes or so we were being given for the exhibition area concerned. The English notices I saw were only minimal: and the idea of a guide book for a museum doesn't seem to exist anywhere in China yet and anything approaching some of the 'Forbidden City' web sites I've yet to find about any of the attractions I visited in China. There were plenty of tourists (mainly chinese) crowded around the cases which also made it hard to take in what our guide was telling us. Lighting, naturally, is dim. The surroundings are *beautiful* and so peaceful outside. As the trees were coming into bloom and the grass was a lush green, maybe we were seeing outside at its best. I can't imagine how the grass could remain so lush during the heat of summer or what flowers may grow to replace to the tree blossom. When I saw the museum was part of the final day of my holiday I wondered how much time one could spend in one museum and whether I would actually enjoy it. Well, 30 minutes is not the way to do it. I'd definitely suggest a half day but read up as much about the dynasties as possible beforehand otherwise a lot of the older relics won't 'come to life'. Its easy to appreciate the beauties of the Tang Dynasty, but much less so for Han and earlier. When the re-construction is finished I feel sure this will definitely be a place to take one's time over.