The Lintong Museum has about 10,000 artifacts that date from the Stone Age to modern times. The building itself is built in a traditional style, and it has red pillars and a tiled roof. The museum has three big exhibition rooms with artifacts that are 2,000 to 3,000 years old. There are artifacts from the Qin and Zhou eras that are more than 2,000 years old, hundreds of artifacts from the Tang Dynasty era (618-907), and lots of Buddhist-related artifacts, statues, and writings spanning more than 1,000 years. Near the museum is a monument that marks the place where Chiang Kai Shek who was the president of the Republic of China was forced to make an alliance with the Communists in December of 1936. So while visiting the museum, you can see exhibits and learn about the history of China from prehistoric times to modern times.
Museum Layout and Contents
The Lintong Museum (临潼博物馆) is a two story structure with a traditional look. Inside of the building, there are winding corridors and three exhibition rooms. Exhibition Room No. 1 displays stone sign posts and statues where people can learn about ancient Chinese history and religion such as Buddhism. The stone sign posts are stone posts or tablets with written scripts that were meant to give a message.
Exhibition Room No. 2 has artifacts from the Zhou Dynasty (1046-221 BC) era and the Qin Dynasty era (221-206 BC). This means that the artifacts are more than 2,200 years old. There is a Zhou-era section and a Qin-era section. Many of the Zhou-era relics were found in caves. The Qin Dynasty relics are mainly from around the old Qin capital or from Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum area.
Exhibition Room No. 3 displays many pieces of Buddhist art works from the Tang Dynasty (618-907). There are two coffins and a Buddhist dagoba that were unearthed in 1985 from the Qingshan Temple of the Tang era. There are also Tang pottery pieces and glass pumpkins. It is believed that the glass pumpkins were made during the Tang era. The various objects that were made for the ruling class show exquisite craftsmanship. There are hundreds of other Tang-era pieces in Exhibition Room No. 3.
Travel
The Lintong Museum is at No. 1 East Ring Road, Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. The museum is about 150 meters from the Huaqing Hot Springs, and it is on the route to the Bell Tower in Xi'an. You can show your driver or guide this address: 临潼博物馆， 1号， 环城东路，临潼区，西安. The museum is about 30 kilometers or 19 miles northeast of Xincheng in Xi'an central area where the Xi'an Train Station is. What makes travel to the museum easy is that it is close to a big expressway called the Xilin Expressway (西临高速).
Nearby Attractions
The Huaqing Hot Springs are nearby, so you may want to take a look at the spring as well. It was an imperial bathing place. The Lingtong Museum is only about 5 kilometers or about three miles from the mausoleum area of the Qin Shi Huang who was the Emperor of the Qin Dynasty. So many tourists can first go there to see the mausoleum and then see the Lintong Museum's Qin-era exhibits. China Highlights can help you design a trip to visit this and other sights in Xi'an.
