Shaanxi History Museum,opened in 1991, is situated on Xiaozhai East Road on the northwest side of Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xian City. Regarded as “the pearl of ancient dynasties and house of Chinese treasures”, it gives a miniature overview of the thousands of years of Chinese history and the splendid ancient cultures of olden times.

The grand buildings imitate the architectural style of the Tang Dynasty with a two-storied central hall and four worship halls around it. The predominant colors of the halls are black, white and grey, which give the halls an atmosphere of solemnity and rustic charm.

Shaanxi History Museum is the first modern national museum which was built in 1983 and opened to the public in 1991. It covers 65,000 square meters, of which 11,000 square meters belong to the exhibition halls and 8,000 square meters are used as warehouses for storing relics. Now 370,000 exhibits in the museum vividly show the history of over a million years from prehistoric times (1,150,000 years ago - 21st Century BC) to about 1840 AD.

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What to see ?

No.1 Exhibition Hall (on the first floor)
It shows  the history of Prehistoric Times (1,150,000 years ago - 21st Century BC), Western Zhou (1046 - 771 BC) and Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206 BC). Different original cultures are mainly shown in prehistoric times. In the Western Zhou and Qin Dynasty areas, the origin and arising of these two dynasties are covered.

No.2 Exhibition Hall (on the second floor) 
It shows the history from the Han Dynasty to the Northern and Southern Dynasties (386-589). In the Han Dynasty, grand architecture and the cultural exchange with other countries are interesting. Everlasting wars and cultural integration are the main themes of the North and Southern Dynasties.

No.3 Exhibition Hall (on the second floor) 
it covers the history of the Tang Dynasty and later years. The Tang Dynasty was the heyday of China and Shaanxi Province; so many different kinds of relics covering almost all aspects are shown in this section. You can see splendid gold and silver articles, tri-color glazed pottery, and articles related to the Silk Road in this hall. After the Tang Dynasty, although Xian lost its position as the capital city of China, it was still an important place. There are many relics that show its continuing importance.

No.4 Exhibitin Hall for Great Tang Dynasty (on the underground)
On the west, it is exhibition hall for treasures .These treasures, being shown in one of the temporary hall,  were unearthed from Hejia Village, Xian, Shaanxi Province.  Besides, there is the other hall which is usually features a variety of theme exhibitions.
On the east, tt is the most distinctive collection in the museum. The hall, lying on the first floor below ground, occupies 1,000 square meters and stores 600 mural paintings from more than 20 noble tombs of the Tang Dynasty. These painting describe different aspects of the noble classes in the Tang Dynasty, depicting how people lived during that time. 

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