Sanxingdui Museum

Sanxingdui Museum
三星堆博物馆

Address: Sanxingdui Ruin Site, 133 Xian Road, Guanghan, Deyang, Sichuan province
Websites: www.sxd.cn/en (En)
www.sxd.cn (Cn)
Hours: Comprehensive Gallery (the first exhibition hall): 8:30-18:00
Bronze Gallery (the second exhibition hall): 8:30-18:30
Last tickets sold at 17:00
Closed in the morning of Chinese New Year's Eve
Ticket booking: 0838-5651526
General admission: Gallery ticket 80 yuan
Note: Children shorter than 1.2m (including 1.2m) can visit the gallery free of charge.
The ticket must be used on the day it is sold and authorizes one visit to each gallery.

When a peasant hollowing out a just-dug ditch in the remote area of southwest China in 1929, he found some jade. And he accidentally opened the door on an unknown culture between 3,000 to 5,000 years old.

Sanxingdui, the ruins of the capital of the ancient Shu, a Kingdom of over 4,000 years ago, is located in Guanghan City, Sichuan province. The site covers an area of 120,000 square meters. In 1986, a great number of relics were brought to light, six of which are evaluated as national treasures, representing the best of copper arts in China. Sanxindui is recognized as one of the world's most important ancient sites because of its vast size, age and cultural contents.

The Sanxingdui Museum, serving as the main gallery for the exhibits, was built in August 1992, and opened to the public in October 1997. It integrates collection, preservation, academic research and social education.

The roughly 1,200 artifacts unearthed from the two pits and other places at the Sanxingdui site displayed in the Sanxingdui museum show the greatest achievements of the Bronze Age civilization and supply important information about the ancient Shu society, which is of great value in exploring the source and course of development of the Yangtze River Basin.

The relics have been exhibited in over ten countries and regions such as Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Britain, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, the United States, Canada, and France and have always attracted great attention. However, there are two extremely valuable relics that can only be seen here in the museum, as they are restricted from exhibition outside of China.

The 3.95-meter bronze tree consisting of a plinth, a tree and a dragon is the biggest bronze relics in the country. There are 27 fruits and nine birds on the tree reflecting the worship of the sun and a sun-god in ancient Shu. Another 3.82-meter-long Jade Tablet featuring fish and birds was meant to convey good wishes.

The ancient Kingdom of Shu, dating from 4,800 to 2,600 years ago, still has many unsolved mysteries, but visitors to the Sanxingdui Museum are lucky enough to be able to unlock some of its history and culture.