He'nan Museum, built in July, 1927. It was moved from Kaifeng to Zhengzhou in 1961 with a new building area of 21,000 square meters, 20 halls of exhibition of various sizes covering a total area of about 10,000 square meters, and a storeroom of 3,862 square meters. In 1976, it was transformed into a historical museum. The new museum today was built in 1998.
Being simple and imaginative in appearance like a pyramid, the exterior style of the museum came from the ancient astronomical observatory built in the Yuan Dynasty in Dengfeng City of He'nan province. The complete map of the celestial sphere painted on the roof inside vestures the hall with an air of mystery especially when the sunbeam casting though the roof into the hall, giving people below an illusion of standing under a starry sky at nights.
The Light of Ancient Culture of He'nan, the largest and the richest exhibition here, displays to visitors more than 1,000 selected culture relics cherished by the museum. Walking along the show rooms, appreciating antiques with history of 2,000-3,000 years here and there, visitors will find He'nan an epitome of the history of the development and the flourish of the Chinese civilization in the Yellow River drainage area. Prehistoric relics, bronze wares of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, delicate tomb antiques of the Han Dynasty, tangsaicai (tri-colored glazed pottery) of the Tang Dynasty and porcelains of the Song Dynasty all have their fancy masterpieces displayed here.
Besides, exhibitions on ancient jade wares, architecture, astronomy of He'nan as well as the bronze wares of Kingdom Chu, the fancy handcrafts made in the Ming and Qing Dynasties can also be found here. |