Yuyao Museum

Yuyao Museum

Yuyao Museum is located at the picturesque western foot of Longquan Mountain, covering an area of approximately 5 acres with a total construction area of 1,600 square meters. It was officially opened to the public on January 18, 2003. The completion of the museum has added a beautiful landmark to Yuyao, a city rich in historical and cultural heritage, and also marked the end of Yuyao’s history without a comprehensive local museum.

Yuyao Museum was built and expanded on the foundation of the original “First Mountain Temple.” Designers and builders ingeniously integrated modern architecture with ancient structures within the environment of mountains and water, resulting in a layout that is both well-arranged and harmonious in style, with fully functional supporting facilities. Today, the museum with its green tiles, white walls, lattice windows, and carved railings has become an iconic building in the leisure area at the western foot of Longquan Mountain.

As a venue that comprehensively showcases Yuyao’s long and rich historical culture, Yuyao Museum will surely become a base for patriotic education that combines collection, research, social education, cultural entertainment, and leisure. It will also serve as a window for the city's spiritual civilization development and external promotion.

Yuyao Museum has a total of five exhibition halls, including three permanent exhibition halls and two temporary ones. The three permanent exhibition halls house the museum’s core display, “Seven Thousand Years Up and Down,” which consists of the Introductory Hall, Ceramics Hall, and Bronze, Jade & Miscellaneous Hall. These halls exhibit nearly 300 representative cultural relics from various periods ranging from the Neolithic Hemudu Era to the Qing Dynasty, presenting Yuyao’s long-standing and profound historical and cultural legacy in an intuitive and vivid manner. The Introductory Hall mainly uses charts, models, and sculptures to provide a general and comprehensive overview of Yuyao’s history and culture. On display here are a sand table model of Shuangcheng from the Qing Dynasty in Yuyao, full-body bronze statues of the “Four Sages,” and calligraphy artifacts by the sages.

The Ceramics Hall prominently showcases Yuyao’s long and deep-rooted ceramic culture. From the carbon-tempered and sand-tempered pottery of the Hemudu Neolithic Age, to the stamped pottery and proto-porcelain of the Three Dynasties period, and up to the celadon of the Yue Kiln from the Six Dynasties to the Five Dynasties, Northern Song, and beyond—exquisite pieces from each era are on display. Highlights include a bird-shaped pottery pot from the Neolithic Age, an proto-porcelain incense burner from the Warring States Period, a celadon chicken-head pot with a lizard handle from the Western Jin Dynasty, and a secret-color celadon powder box with makara designs from the Yue Kiln. The variety is dazzling, with countless fine pieces. In addition, the Ceramics Hall also displays many fine ceramics from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, such as a celadon dish from the Yuan Dynasty’s Longquan Kiln, a porcelain statue of an angler from the Ming Dynasty’s Dehua Kiln, a Qing Dynasty blue-and-white gu, a blue-and-white underglaze red celestial globe bottle, a vitreous enamel blue bottle, a polychrome figure-shaped club vase, and a famille rose large plate. These pieces reflect the collecting achievements of several generations of Yuyao’s cultural relics authorities.

The Bronze, Jade & Miscellaneous Hall exhibits a wide range of exquisite artifacts, including stone tools, bronzes, bone objects, jades, gold and silverware, bricks, tiles, seals, and inkstones. Notable items include a stone battle-axe, bone dagger, and ivory round-carved bird-shaped dagger from the Hemudu Neolithic Age; a bronze mechanism from the Eastern Han Dynasty; a four-teat, four-deity bronze mirror from the Eastern Han Dynasty; a double-phoenix auspicious bronze mirror from the Tang Dynasty; a jade bi disc from the Warring States Period; a gold tiger charm from the Song Dynasty; a gold square talisman and gold ear pick from the Ming Dynasty; inscribed bricks from the Western Jin Dynasty; a zodiac goose-shaped bronze seal; and a Duan inkstone inscribed with the name of Zhu Yizun from the Qing Dynasty. Though most of these miscellaneous items are relatively small in size, they are exquisitely refined and elegant, embodying the crystallization of the production, daily life, and artistic wisdom of the people of ancient Yuyao, and hold high historical and artistic value.

Address: Western Foot of Longquan Mountain, Yuyao City, Ningbo

Type: Museum

Recommended Visiting Time: 1–2 hours

Official Website: http://www.yywhyc.com/museum/

Opening Hours:

May – September: 8:30–17:00 (last entry at 16:30); October – April (next year): 9:00–16:30 (last entry at 16:00)

Ticket Information:

Free admission.

Further Reading:

· Second-Class National Museum of China