Wuhan Museum

Located in the central part of urban Wuhan, Wuhan Museum is one of China’s best museums showing the history of Wuhan city and Chinese arts. With a symmetrical three-floor construe and a pyramidal glass dome, Wuhan Museum covers a total area of 17,834 square meters (21,329 sq yd) and an exhibition area of 6,000 square meters (7,176 sq yd).
 

Wuhan Museum has more than 100,000 pieces of rich collections, including pottery, bronze wares, paintings, calligraphy works, jade wares, bamboo carvings, wood carvings, ivory carvings, enamel vessels, seals and so on. The blue-and-white vase with four cherishes-themed painting in Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 AD) might be the best priceless collection there.
 

Some are unearthed, of which the earliest ones are from Neolithic Age; some are imperial wares that common people cannot witness at that time; some are handed down exquisite art works. Not a few collections in Wuhan Museum are quite rare that survived from wars.
 

Five exhibitions are going on all year round in Wuhan Museum, which includes two basic displays telling Wuhan’s Ancient History and Modern History, and three thematic art displays of Treasurable Cultural Relics of Past Dynasties, Ancient Ceramic Art, and Painting and Calligraphic Arts of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In addition, some temporary exhibitions are also held from time to time.
 

The display of Wuhan’s ancient history is at the first and second exhibition halls on the second floor, showing the development of Wuhan city in ancient times. It is divided into five parts from the Neolithic Age to Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911 AD), which include Prehistoric Times (1.7 million years ago - the 21st century BC), Xia (21st - 17th century BC), Shang (17th century BC - 1046 BC) and Zhou (1046 - 256 BC) Dynasties, Military Fortress from Qin (221-207 BC) to Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589 AD), Land-Water Terminal from Sui (581-618 AD) to Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 AD), the Towngate of Nine Provinces in Ming (1368-1644 AD) and Qing Dynasties.

See more: Wuhan History
 

This display is at a lobby and three exhibition halls on the third floor, to show Wuhan’s history from 1938 to 1950 AD, which consists of three parts. With over 400 relics, the first part shows opening as a commercial port and the Wuchang uprising; the second part shows the great revolution and the change on urban construction and folk customs; and the third part shows the battles happened in Wuhan in Sino-Japanese War and the Civil War.
 

At the first exhibition hall on the first floor of Wuhan Museum, more than 200 cultural relics from different dynasties are on display. It is made up of seven parts: bronze wares, jade wares, carvings of bamboo, wood and ivory, ink stones, seal arts, snuff bottles and colorful enamel.
 

It is at the second exhibition hall on the first floor, displaying varied kinds of ceramics from different dynasties. This display includes longest-standing pottery arts, monochrome glazed porcelains, chromatic faience and blue and white porcelains.
 

The paintings and calligraphic works in Wuhan Museum are mostly from Ming and Qing Dynasties. This display is at the third exhibition hall on the first floor with landscape paintings, bird-and-flower paintings, Chinese ink and wash and calligraphic works of regular, cursive, clerical and seal scripts. Quite a few are famous invaluable works, like cursive scripts by Wen Zhengming, the paintings by Zhu Da.
 

Every exhibition hall has its own theme and style. For example, at the first floor, the hall for displaying cultural relics is full of mysterious atmosphere; and the basic halls at the second floor are equipped with immersive digital applications to show local history vividly. At the lobby of the first floor, you can watch videos for free. These videos are about history, arts and education. At the second floor, there is a rest area, where you can have a rest with offered tea. You can also buy art works, souvenirs and books telling museum researches, history, relics, folk, local customs, arts and culture there.
 

Location of Wuhan Museum: No.373, Qingnian Road, Jianghan District, Wuhan

By Metro:
Take the metro line 2 and get off at Hankou Railway Station, come out from Exit D and walk south for a while; or get off at Fanhu Station and come out from Exit A, walk north along Qingnian Road. You can also take metro line 3 to Fanhu Station, and get out from Exit J.

By Bus:
Take the city bus 10, 79, 342, 411, 509, 584, 603, 703, 809, yx10, yx703 to Qingnian Road Wuhan Museum Stop.
 

Opening Hours	09:00-17:00, last ticket at 16:00; Closed on Mondays, except for holidays
Admission Fee	Free; but visitors need to get a ticket with their ID card or passport. At most 3,000 tickets are issued each day, 2,000 in the morning and 1,000 in the afternoon.
English Explaining Service	CNY 200 within 2 hours; additional CNY 200 per extra hour.
Digital Audio Guide	CNY 40

Nearby Attraction:
Houxianghe Park: Houxianghe Park is a good place for morning exercise and leisure strolling with a large lake and lush green plants. You can also see some fowls there, such as egrets.