Huainan Museum

Huainan Museum

Huainan Museum is a base for patriotic education.

Established in 1958, Huainan Museum is one of the first municipal museums founded in Anhui Province. As a comprehensive local museum, it serves as an important institution for the collection, promotion, and education of cultural relics and natural specimens in the city, as well as a key window for Huainan’s international cultural exchanges. In 2013, it was designated as a National Second-Class Museum by the National Cultural Heritage Administration.

Huainan Museum is affiliated with the Huainan Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Press and Publication. It is a full-funded public institution at the division level, currently employing 14 staff members on the official payroll.

The museum houses a collection of 5,508 items (2,056 sets), along with over ten thousand pieces of Shouzhou Kiln ceramic samples. Among these, there are 1,078 precious cultural relics of third grade or above, primarily consisting of bronze ware from the late Warring States period to the Han Dynasty and Shouzhou Kiln ceramics from the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The museum's collection of Shouzhou Kiln ceramics is the most complete, systematic, and representative of Huainan’s local characteristics.

The museum covers a construction area of 10,300 square meters, including 6,000 square meters of exhibition space. It currently features three permanent exhibitions: "Relics of Huainan Land – A Collection of Cultural Relics from Huainan Museum," "Shouzhou Kiln," and "Memories of Huainan – The Basic Exhibition of Huainan Archives." There are also three temporary exhibition halls that host over 10 temporary exhibitions each year. All exhibitions are open to the public free of charge.

"Relics of Huainan Land – A Collection of Cultural Relics from Huainan Museum" showcases a variety of exquisite artifacts unearthed or collected in Huainan over the years. It is divided into six sections: ancient bronzes, weapons, bronze mirrors, ceramics, jade artifacts, and miscellaneous items, reflecting the civilization achievements of different eras in the Huainan region. "Shouzhou Kiln" is divided into four sections: a brief overview of the development of Chinese ceramics, the history and achievements of Shouzhou Kiln production, the production process of Shouzhou Kiln, and interactive displays for visitors, comprehensively presenting the firing history and craftsmanship of Shouzhou Kiln ceramics during the Sui and Tang Dynasties in the Huainan area. "Memories of Huainan – The Basic Exhibition of Huainan Archives" is divided into 18 sections, including "Difficult Beginnings," "The Formative Stage of Huainan," "Liberation of the Mining Area," "Economic Takeoff," and "Glorious Achievements." It displays 400 precious photographs, 15 sets of paper archives, and some physical archives, fully illustrating the construction, struggle, and achievement history of how Huainan developed from a rudimentary mining area into a modern energy city.

The exhibitions in the temporary exhibition halls feature diverse themes and flexible schedules. Since its opening in 2008, the museum has hosted an average of more than 10 temporary exhibitions per year. Exhibitions on calligraphy and painting, science popularization, and photography are particularly popular among visitors. Examples include the "Calligraphy, Painting and Photography Exhibition Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of Reform and Opening Up," the "Second China Huainan International Children’s Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition and Shengshi Diancang Competition," the "Stamp Exhibition Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Founding of the Nation," the "Splendid 60 Years Huainan Photography Exhibition," the "Municipal People’s Congress Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition," the "Fine Works Exhibition of the Municipal Art Academy," the "Pan Yuliang Painting Exhibition," the "Reproduction Exhibition of Historical Calligraphy and Paintings from the Taipei Palace Museum," the "Exhibition of Fine Ming and Qing Fan Paintings from the Anhui Provincial Museum Collection," and the "Integrity Culture Calligraphy, Painting and Photography Exhibition." These events enrich the spiritual and cultural life of citizens.

The museum currently has 6 professional guides and 16 volunteers. The guides have participated in multiple provincial and municipal training sessions and are able to simplify complex content and explain it in an accessible manner based on the audience’s comprehension abilities. Volunteers are selected from local colleges and universities and are all college students who provide voluntary timed guided tours for visitors during holidays.

In recent years, activities such as "Teenagers Visiting Museums" have been organized on occasions like International Museum Day and Chinese Cultural Heritage Day. In 2008, 2009, and 2012, Huainan also hosted treasure appraisal fairs, inviting top-tier cultural relic appraisal experts from the province to provide free appraisal services for citizens. Additionally, the museum has conducted comprehensive publicity on its free admission policy through national, provincial, and municipal radio, television, and print media. Tickets are systematically distributed to primary and secondary schools across the city, and cooperative agreements for museum-school partnerships have been established with several schools. These activities have added content to major citywide promotional initiatives, realized "culture for the people," enriched citizens’ leisure cultural life, and greatly contributed to the city’s spiritual civilization development.

To date, Huainan Museum has maintained a spotless record of no cultural relic safety incidents over its 56-year history and has received numerous commendations from relevant departments. In accordance with the "Museum Management Measures," the museum strictly adheres to its opening hours, remaining open to the public free of charge from Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00–17:00 (entry stops at 16:30), including holidays. It receives over 300,000 visitors annually.

Further Reading:

· China National Second-Class Museum