Former Site of the National Central Museum

Former Site of the National Central Museum

The Former Site of the National Central Museum is a cultural relic protection unit of Jiangsu Province.

It is now the Nanjing Museum, China’s first modern comprehensive large-scale museum established by the state. In April 1933, at the initiative of Cai Yuanpei, a veteran statesman of the Kuomintang and renowned scholar, the Ministry of Education of the Nationalist Government set up the Preparatory Office of the Central Museum, with its office located at the Academia Sinica on Beiji Pavilion. The Academia Sinica provided substantial support to the museum in terms of talent and funding. After more than a year of construction, the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan in July 1937 led to frequent bombings of Nanjing by enemy aircraft, causing constant panic. Construction had to be halted by the end of August.

During the war, the Preparatory Office of the Central Museum, along with its collections, was relocated to Sichuan, Yunnan, and other areas. After several moves, it returned to Nanjing following the victory of the war. During the Japanese occupation of Nanjing, the museum site was used as a central air defense facility, where completed sections were heavily modified and damaged, resulting in significant losses. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, in March 1950, the Preparatory Office of the Central Museum was officially renamed the “Nanjing Museum.” In the early 1950s, the government allocated funds for the renovation and expansion of the museum buildings. Thus, the first phase of the museum’s construction was finally completed.

The Nanjing Museum covers an area of over 90,000 square meters, with a building area of 17,000 square meters. Among this, the exhibition halls occupy more than 4,800 square meters, the cultural relics storage and reading rooms cover over 10,000 square meters, and the library storage and reading rooms span approximately 800 square meters. These facilities provide favorable conditions for the development of the museum’s various programs.

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the museum has carried out highly effective archaeological work. In the early 1950s, it led or participated in the excavation of several sites and tombs in Fujian, Zhejiang, Anhui, Shandong, and other regions, such as the Han Dynasty Tomb in Yinan, Shandong, and the Tanshishan Site in Minhou, Fujian. After 1954, the museum consistently conducted archaeological surveys and excavations within Jiangsu Province, discovering and excavating over 500 sites related to the Qingliangang Culture, Liangzhu Culture, and Hushu Culture. It also cleared and excavated more than 1,200 ancient tombs, unearthing over 100,000 cultural relics.

The Nanjing Museum currently houses a collection of approximately 420,000 items, second only to the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units in Jiangsu Province