Shanghai Museum
One of the Best History Museums in China!
Phone: (021) 6372-5300 or
(021) 9696-8686
Hours: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Admission: Cost for some exhibits
Nearest Public Transit: Peoples Square Station, Line 1 and 2
The Shanghai Museum is the centerpiece of several museums surrounding People's Square. If there is one museum that everyone needs to see in Shanghai this is it! It has wonderful and important pieces of art, creative and enticing displays, and great signage in English throughout. The museum is also now free! There is no excuse not to stop in.
It is an unfortunate fact that many of the most precious pieces of art from China's history are in European and American museums - the result of colonization, subjugation and national disintegration last century. Yet this museum has some of the best examples of what is left. From Sculptures to calligraphy, ethnic embroidery to ceramics, the museum has it all. Find what your excited about and spend your time with those galleries or spend an entire day. Rent audio descriptions to delve deeper into the exhibits.
The Shanghai Museum possesses a collection of 120,000 precious works of ancient Chinese art. Its rich and high-quality collection of ancient Chinese bronze, ceramics, painting and calligraphy is world famous. Founded and first open to the public in the former horseracing club at 325 W. Nanjing Road in 1952 and then moved into the former Zhonghui Building at 16 S. Henan Road in 1959, the museum developed very quickly in all aspects of acquisition, conservation, research, exhibition, education and cultural exchanges with other institutes. In 1992, the ShanDa Ke ding(a kind of ancient vesselghai municipal government allocated to the Museum a piece of land at the very center of the city, the People's Square, as its new site. The construction took three years, from August 1993 to its inauguration on October 12th, 1996. The 29.5 meters high new building has a is over 39,000 square meters. Its unique architectural form symbolizes the ancient Chinese philosophy that the square earth is under the round sky, is a distinguished architectural combination of traditional features and a modern spirit. Designed by a local architect, the building is designed in the shape of an ancient, bronze, tripod cooking vessel called a ding. It is said that the inspiration for the design was specifically provided by the Da Ke Ding, now on exhibit in the museum and pictured here.
EXHIBITS
The museum has eleven galleries and three temporary exhibition halls and extends a warm welcome to the visitors from all over the world. The collection has over 120,000 pieces, including bronze, ceramics, calligraphy, furniture, jades, ancient coins, paintings, seals, sculptures, minority art and foreign art. It has eleven galleries and three special temporary exhibition halls.
For more information on exhibits visit the museum's online display information or check out their virtual tour.
