Western Anhui Museum

Western Anhui Museum

The Western Anhui Museum is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction and a patriotic education base.

The Western Anhui Museum in Anhui Province is a municipal comprehensive museum and a national key museum, as well as a provincial-level patriotic education base. Established in 1980, it covers an area of 13,000 square meters and features architecture inspired by the Huizhou style. The building has a construction area of nearly 4,500 square meters, including 1,500 square meters of exhibition halls, 1,150 square meters of cultural relic storage, and offers a tranquil environment with pleasant scenery.

Lu’an was the fief of the descendants of Gao Yao, known as the State of Liu during the Shang Dynasty. In the Spring and Autumn Period, it became part of the Chu Kingdom and was a historic battlefield in the century-long conflict between Wu and Chu. During the Han Dynasty, rulers such as the King of Jiujang, the King of Huainan Ying Bu, and the Kings of Lu’an Liu Chang and Liu Qing all established their capitals here. In the period of the New Democratic Revolution, it was an important part of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Revolutionary Base Area and one of the cradles of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. With a long history and profound cultural heritage, Lu’an City currently has over 1,700 above-ground cultural relics and more than 20,000 cultural relics in its collections, including 300 first-class relics. There is one national historical and cultural city, six national key cultural relic protection units, 30 provincial-level protection units, and 338 county (city)-level protection units. The region has yielded a large number of relics with a wide variety and high grade. Rare treasures such as the Chuu Cauldron, the Sword of the King of Yue, and the E’junqi Gold Seal are seldom seen elsewhere in China. The Shuangdun No.1 Han Tomb, excavated in 2006, gained fame both domestically and internationally and was named one of the “Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries of the Year” in 2006.

The new building of the Western Anhui Museum is located on the east side of the Municipal Administrative Center in the Lu’an Governmental New District. It has a planned total land area of 27,000 square meters, with three floors above ground and one underground, and a total construction area of 12,000 square meters. The architectural design is unique and the structure innovative. Centered around a three-story main hall, there are two-story east and west wing rooms to the south, and a concave-shaped two-story rear building at the back. The form adopts a palace plus courtyard layout, combining the evolution of Han Dynasty architecture with the traditional spatial arrangement of Huizhou-style residential courtyards, reflecting an overall Han Dynasty architectural style.

The Western Anhui Museum has a total of nine exhibition halls covering 6,800 square meters and houses nearly 10,000 cultural relic specimens. Although it is a medium-sized local historical comprehensive museum, its collection size ranks second among all museums in the province. It consists of the basic exhibits “Discovering Western Anhui,” which focus on the historical relics of Lu’an and the revolution of Western Anhui, along with three thematic exhibition halls: “The Art of Lu Opera in Western Anhui,” “Folk Customs of Western Anhui,” and “The Yuanheng Memorial Hall.” These relatively independent systems offer functions for the collection, preservation, display, education, and research of cultural relics. “Discovering Western Anhui” includes three major parts: “The Spirit of Gao Yao,” “Ancient Heroes,” and “Red Flags Unfurled.” Centered on themes such as bronze culture, ceramic culture, burial system culture, and revolutionary culture, and using cultural relics, documents, and historical photographs as mediums, it showcases the significant status and contributions of Western Anhui in the history of Chinese civilization and the Chinese revolution through various auxiliary methods such as dioramas, models, digital technology, and illustrations, based on actual collections. The thematic exhibitions are divided into “The Art of Lu Opera in Western Anhui,” “Folk Customs of Western Anhui,” and “Yuanheng Horse Healing.”

Exhibitions and Collections

Tang Dynasty Shouzhou Kiln Four-Loop Spouted Jar — Height: 32 cm, Mouth Diameter: 11.5 cm, Base Diameter: 12 cm. Collected in 1981 from Xintang, Dingji, Lu’an. The jar, an ancient vessel for holding water, came in various forms. Porcelain jars were a major product consistently produced by kilns across regions. The spouted jar with a dish-like mouth was a popular type of ceramic ware from the Eastern Han to the Tang Dynasty. During the Western Han Dynasty, some flared-mouth jars already featured a ridge line at the junction of the mouth and neck. In the early Eastern Han Dynasty, this ridge became more pronounced, with the mouth and neck tilting outward, resembling the early form of a dish-like mouth. By the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it had evolved into the spouted jar with a dish-like mouth. Its shape also gradually developed from short and small to tall and large, with the dish-like mouth becoming higher, the neck extending from short to long, the belly changing from round to oval, and the loops evolving from ring-shaped to bridge-shaped, and then to strip-like. Most spouted jars had four loops. This Shouzhou Kiln four-loop spouted jar has its center of gravity low, with a deep dish-like mouth, long neck, bulging belly, flat base, and four loops on the shoulders. Despite its tall body, the proportions are harmonious, the lines are soft, and the shape is quite elegant.

Han Dynasty Lacquered Pottery Bell with Painted Design — Height: 34.6 cm, Mouth Diameter: 12 cm, Belly Circumference: 84 cm, Base Diameter: 17 cm. Made of hard gray clay. It has a flared mouth, slender neck, sloping shoulders, flat round belly, and a round base with an outward-flaring ring foot. The shoulders are adorned with two symmetrical taotie mask ring handles, and there is a raised broad band pattern on both the shoulder and belly. The surface is coated with a brown lacquer layer, and from the mouth rim down to the belly, it is painted with alternating red and white broad band patterns, triangular patterns, banana leaf patterns, and cloud-and-bird motifs. The ring foot is painted with red broad band and wave patterns.

Han Dynasty Pottery Stove — Unearthed on April 4, 1995, from Tomb No. 223 in the East City Development Zone. Made of fine gray clay. The stove platform is nearly boat-shaped, with a chimney standing upright at the rear. The top surface has three circular stove openings. The stove walls are vertical, with the side and rear walls extending higher than the top surface, and the front wall has a semi-circular opening for firewood. A cauldron is placed on the middle stove opening, with a steamer on top of the cauldron, and a basin and a jar placed on the stove openings in front of and behind the cauldron, respectively.

Qing Dynasty Kiln-Transformed Vase with Band Handles — Transferred from the National Cultural Relics Store Headquarters. Height: 29.9 cm, Mouth Length: 11 cm, Width: 8.8 cm, Belly Length: 19 cm, Width: 17 cm, Foot Length: 12.3 cm, Width: 9.3 cm. A product of the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln. It has a rectangular straight mouth, square lip, sloping shoulders, arc-shaped belly, and a long rectangular ring foot. The corners of the mouth and neck are indented inward, and two long rectangular loop ears are attached to both sides of the neck. Each of the front and rear belly walls features a chicken-heart-shaped protrusion. The body walls are thick, and both the interior and exterior are fully glazed. The surface is mainly covered with copper-red glaze, interspersed with blue and black glazes on the four edges, loop ears, and side belly walls. The base bears a three-line seal script blue-and-white mark reading “Made in the 19th Year of the Guangxu Reign of the Great Qing” in six characters.

Yuan Dynasty Carved Floral Silver Cup and Tray — A cup and tray set. The cup has an open mouth and a bulging belly, with a short ring foot and symmetrical vertical human figure loop ears. At the center, a child sits cross-legged playing with a flower ball, while the two ears depict two young girls with double buns, wearing long robes, standing on lotus flowers, holding the rim of the cup with both hands and gazing at the boy inside. The exterior of the cup is entirely decorated with raised floral designs. The tray has a flat folded rim, a shallow belly, and a flat base. The rim is decorated with honeysuckle patterns, the rim opening with peony flowers, and the surrounding floral clusters feature two pairs of children holding floral sprigs and dancing, with lifelike images, vibrant blossoms, and charming figures.

On January 8, 2015, our city’s Western Anhui Museum successfully passed the expert panel review and was rated as a national 4A-level tourist attraction. As an important window unit of our city, the Western Anhui Museum receives a large number of visitors each year, including many tourists from outside the region. To further enhance reception capacity and improve service standards, the museum actively prepared for the application of national 4A-level status starting in 2013. Over the past year, by earnestly fulfilling its museum functions, continuously improving hardware and software facilities, strengthening personnel management and training, the museum has seen continuous improvement in work standards and service quality. Its role as a city window has become increasingly prominent, making it an exquisite calling card for promoting Lu’an. As a museum-type institution, the Western Anhui Museum leverages the profound historical foundation and rich cultural heritage of Lu’an, making full use of advantages such as its abundant collection, comprehensive exhibition system, and diverse educational activities. It actively creates a distinctive tourism attraction that sets it apart from other scenic spots in the city, earning high praise from the expert panel during the review. The successful application for national 4A-level status is of great significance for expanding the museum’s social influence and enhancing service levels, and will also play a positive role in enriching Lu’an’s tourism resources and elevating the city’s taste.

Further Reading:

· National Second-Class Museum of China