National Museum of China
— — five thousand years, on one long wall.
Not only on a wall.
“The building runs the full eastern flank of Tiananmen Square, the longest single elevation on the plaza. Inside, the Ancient China galleries hold the Houmuwu bronze cauldron, the largest piece of cast bronze from the ancient world, and walk the visitor through every dynasty in order. The Rejuvenation galleries pick up the story from 1840. The hall between them is taller than most cathedrals and holds the quiet you would expect.
National Museum of China, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The National Museum of China stands on the eastern side of Tiananmen Square in central Beijing, directly facing the Great Hall of the People. The current institution was formed in 2003 by the merger of the Museum of Chinese History and the Museum of the Chinese Revolution, both founded in 1959 and housed in the same building. A four-year renovation completed in 2011 expanded the floor area to about 200,000 square metres, making it one of the largest museums in the world by floor space. The permanent collection holds more than 1.4 million items.
The flagship permanent exhibition, Ancient China, runs chronologically from the Yuanmou Man fossils through the Qing dynasty across more than 2,500 objects. Its most-photographed piece is the Houmuwu Ding, a rectangular bronze ritual cauldron cast around 1200 BCE during the late Shang dynasty. At 832 kilograms it is the heaviest single piece of bronze surviving from the ancient world. Other anchor objects include the Simuwu inscription, the Western Zhou Da Yu ding, and the jade burial suit of Liu Sheng. The second permanent gallery, The Road of Rejuvenation, covers Chinese history from 1840 onward.
The museum stands at 16 East Chang'an Avenue, Dongcheng District, a short walk from the Tian'anmen East station on Beijing Subway Line 1. Admission is free, but advance online reservation through the museum's website or WeChat mini-program is required and time-slotted, with a valid passport at the door for international visitors. The museum is generally closed on Mondays. Bags pass through airport-style security at the south entrance. The Ancient China and Road of Rejuvenation galleries alone take a half-day each at a reasonable pace.