The Shaanxi Archaeological Museum, the first archaeological museum in China, 
was recently completed in Xi'an and will be open to the public on a trial basis 
from April 28. Prior to that, the Xi'an Museum also had officially unveiled its 
"new look" after five months of upgrading and renovation. The official debut of 
these two major museums this month further contributes to the image of Xi'an as 
a City of Museums.
    
Museums are part of a city's cultural identity and a place for people to feel 
the history, understand the present and explore the future. Xi'an, China, has 
made great efforts to make itself into a City of Museums, devoting itself to 
transforming its advantages in cultural heritage resources, developing its 
urban culture in the style of Xi'an, and highlighting its unique charm as a 
thousand-year ancient capital. The Party Xi'an Municipal Committee and 
Municipal Government proposed to protect the city's cultural treasures, develop 
the city's cultural value, and make culture a bridge between Xi'an and the 
world.

Located in Chang'an District, Xi'an City, the upcoming Shaanxi Archaeological 
Museum is a museum that focuses on the development of archaeology as a 
discipline, and displays the process of archaeological work, techniques and 
research ideas. The museum has an indoor exhibition area of 5,800 square meters 
and an outdoor exhibition area of 10,000 square meters, boasting 5,215 cultural 
relics in 4,218 groups on display. The museum has a number of exhibits that 
have been restored for protection with new concepts and advanced technologies. 
The exhibits include a Tang Dynasty cameleer figurine that is still intact 
after thousands of years, and Western Zhou Dynasty horse and chariot pits and 
Yuan Dynasty fresco tomb that have been moved into the museum as "packages" as 
a whole.

Located in the south of Xi'an City, the Xi'an Museum consists of three parts: 
the Tang Small Wild Goose Pagoda (Xiaoyan Pagoda), the ancient architectural 
complex of Jianfu Temple and the museum area. It is a modern history museum 
integrating museums, historic sites and gardens. In early April, the renovated 
and upgraded Xi'an Museum welcomed its visitors with a "new look". More than 
1,100 pieces (groups) of cultural relics from the collection were unveiled in 
the 1,300-square-meter exhibition hall. Among them, more than 100 pieces 
(groups) will be presented to the public for the first time as regular exhibits 
of the museum, including the golden tiger ornament from the Warring States 
Period, the opera figures bronze paperweight from the Han Dynasty and the 
painted infantry figurine, better showing the historical and cultural heritage 
of the ancient capital of Xi'an.

With a city history of 3,100 years, Xi'an, along with Cairo, Athens and Rome, 
is known as one of the "Four Ancient Capitals of History". Today, thousands of 
years of time and historical traces are concentrated in museums of all sizes in 
Xi'an. Xi'an has as many as 134 registered museums, covering more than 40 types 
such as history, art and natural science. The Overall Plan for the Construction 
of the City of Museums in Xi'an issued in 2019 set up the spatial framework for 
the construction of the City of Museums in Xi'an, making Xi'an truly an 
"everyday history museum" that can be heard anytime, seen anywhere and spoken 
about randomly.

In addition to collection, research and display, museums in Xi'an are exploring 
new opportunities for education, communication and even leisure. Xi'an has 
integrated museum resources and expanded the role of museums as "schools" so 
that museums can better integrate into and serve public life. Relying on the 
rapid development of digital museums and coping with challenges during the 
COVID-19 pandemic, the Xi'an Museum has brought its collection to the "cloud", 
giving lectures through live streaming, and holding concerts for the public. 
This ubiquitous museum experience in new forms makes classical and serious 
museums accessible to more ordinary people.

Source: The Party Xi'an Municipal Committee and Municipal Government

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   Caption: A tomb mural of Yuan dynasty in the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum