Why this is the museum to do before everything else in Xi'an
Here is the honest tip: visit this museum before you head out to the Terracotta Army, and you will be able to read the whole city. The Shaanxi History Museum (陕西历史博物馆) is the place that explains why Xi'an matters at all. The city — once called Chang'an — served as China's capital for 13 dynasties, from the Zhou, Qin and Han through to the high-water mark of the Tang. The objects pulled from the ground all around the city now sit together in one building.
The museum opened in 1991 in the style of a Tang-dynasty palace, designed by the architect Zhang Jinqiu — dark grey tiled roofs, upturned eaves, a broad stone forecourt; dignified but quiet, exactly as a national treasure house should feel. Inside, the collection runs to more than 1.7 million artefacts, including 18 designated national treasures, displayed chronologically across three main halls.
What sets the place apart is the quality of what is actually in the cases, not just the volume — the Tang agate cup carved as an animal's head, the gold bowl chased with mandarin ducks and lotus petals, the Han-dynasty empress's jade seal, the tri-colour camel carrying a band of musicians. These are objects from the Chinese-history textbooks, and the main halls are free to enter — with one important condition you need to plan around first.
