Ancient Tomb Museum

The Ancient Tomb Museum is composed of two parts, namely the ground and underground section. The ground section consists of white-marble made Entrance Door, Briefing Hall, Archive, Exhibition Room, Tetragonal Mansion and Wangjing Pavilion. While the underground section houses the most precious collections of the museum, that lie within a large-scale underground tomb complex. There are a total of 22 typical ancient tombs of various dynasties, marked with a time span from the Western Han Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty. Among them, a group of mural tombs have the highest reputation.

The murals in the tombs of the Han Dynasty boast a long history. Today, 10 mural tombs are open to visitors, including the tomb containing the mural describing the story of exorcising demons (the Western Han Dynasty), the Tomb of Buqianqiu with a mural depicting the lifestyle of the noble families (the Western Han Dynasty) and the one telling the story of an eastward expedition (the Eastern Han Dynasty), etc.

The mural inside the Tomb of Buqianqiu describes the scenery of Buqianqiu and his wife ride a snake and three phoenixes and fly to the heaven, escorted by God of Purity who is appointed by the Queen Mother of the Western Heavens, fairies, dragons, flying goats (a kind of Chinese ancient beasts that have swings) and rose finches. The figures and beasts in the mural are colored brightly and well-painted with a profound cultural richness and artistic value.

The museums display many everyday utensils, embellishments and such funeral objects as the pottery figurines of the Western Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties as well as the trio-colored glazed potteries of the Tang Dynasty.