Nanjing Museum of Paleontology
南京古生物博物馆
Address: 39 Beijing East Road, Xuanwu district, Nanjing city, Jiangsu province
Opening hours: 9:00 -17:00 (Monday-Sunday)
General admission: free
Affiliated to the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, China Academy of Sciences, the Nanjing Museum of Paleontology sits in the Jiming Temple Scenic Area in downtown Nanjing, capital of East China’s Jiangsu province. It is a modern museum integrating exhibitions, collections, research, and education and is an important base for science education.
Covering an exhibition area of about 4,200 square meters, the museum is one of the largest specialized museums of paleontology in the world, and has a permanent collection featuring fossils of paleoinvertebrates, paleobotany and micropalaeontology. Its holdings of specimens of the Chengjiang Biota and the Jehol Biota, including the Sinosauropteryx fossil, are national treasures.
Eight permanent exhibitions at the museum tell the story of the evolution of earth and life through a large number of rare specimens, exquisite pictures, simulation models and landscape restoration. They fully demonstrate the secrets of the fossils and the diversity of paleontology, revealing the significant events in the process of biological evolution, showing China’s paleontological discoveries and achievements and stimulating visitors’ interest in natural science and history.