Shaanxi to house China’s 1st archaeological museum

Xi'an (CNS) -- Shaanxi Province in northwest China, famous for its rich resources of conserved historical and cultural relics, will build China's first archaeological museum, the provincial Cultural Relic Bureau decided on Wednesday.

The archaeological museum is a newly emerging form of heritage display that follows the threads and themes of archaeological studies, featuring a specific regional culture. It differs from general historical museums and historic site pavilions in terms of its expression, the sources of its exhibits, and the methods of display.

Shaanxi's archaeological exhibitions will essentially be housed in four pavilions – sample display, material study, public participation, and the cultural industry. It will focus on how an archaeological exploration is carried out, what technological methods are needed during the process, how archaeological studies are designed and the achievements of and stories behind such studies.

Sample collections will cover pottery figurines, ceramics, frescos, statues, metals, construction materials and animal remains.

Shaanxi now supports 178 museums with collections of cultural relics in the hundreds of thousands, and extensive and detailed references.

The province has 49,058 immovable cultural relics on its books, an undertaking that has helped make Shaanxi the pioneer cultural relic sample base of China.