Turpan Regional Museum

Turpan Regional Museum

The Turpan Museum is situated on the west side of Gaochang Road, the most bustling thoroughfare in Turpan City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Established in 1989, it spans 9 mu and is composed of the main hall and the Giant Rhinoceros Exhibition Hall, boasting a total construction area of 2,000 square meters. The museum is well-equipped with modern security systems, enclosed transparent display cases, and a professional team of guides. It currently houses 3,287 cultural relics, including 135 first-grade national relics, 260 second-grade, and 640 third-grade. It is the largest museum among all prefecture-level and city-level museums in Xinjiang. The architectural design is distinctive, dignified, and richly evocative of the local ethnic characteristics and historical depth of the Western Regions. The museum is divided into several sections to serve various needs, including the Reception Hall, the Exhibition Hall of Cultural Relics Unearthed in Turpan, the Mummy Exhibition Hall, the Giant Rhinoceros Exhibition Hall, general exhibition spaces, storage rooms, and more.

The Exhibition Hall of Cultural Relics Unearthed in Turpan displays nearly 300 artifacts, including 28 first-grade national relics. The exhibits primarily feature early cultural remains with distinct regional features, represented by red-painted pottery and plain pottery. A large collection of silk fabrics—typical Silk Road artifacts—includes various types such as brocade, silk, and gauze. Rare treasures include the Sui-Tang period’s “Shared-Life Birds” embroidered pattern and Tang Dynasty floral-and-bird-patterned brocades. The world-renowned Turpan manuscripts include contracts, household registers, official documents, and personal letters, serving as vital resources for studying the history of the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties, Sui, and Tang periods. Ancient texts in minority languages such as Sogdian, Kharosthi, and Sanskrit are precious materials for researching ancient scripts of ethnic minorities.

The Mummy Exhibition Hall currently displays five mummies from the Jin to Tang dynasties, spanning a thousand years. Among them, the mummified remains of Zhang Ning, a military commander of the Gaochang Kingdom, and his wife are the most eye-catching. Their lifelike reconstructions, created by the Beijing Natural History Museum, are strikingly realistic. The mummies in Turpan were naturally preserved due to the region’s climate and geographical conditions, fundamentally differing from the artificially processed mummies of ancient Egypt, making them invaluable specimens. They hold significant scientific value for research in anthropology, archaeology, medicine, and especially the study of Turpan’s history.

The Giant Rhinoceros Exhibition Hall is a large-scale, modern exhibition space expanded from the main building in 1996. With a total investment of 2 million yuan, it officially opened to the public in August 1997 and is currently the largest natural history museum in Northwest China. The Tianshan Giant Rhinoceros fossil displayed here was discovered in 1993 during the construction of the double-track railway line of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway at Feiyue Railway Station in eastern Turpan. It is the largest mammal ever to have lived on land, dating back approximately 24 million years to the Oligocene epoch, measuring about 9 meters in length and weighing around 30 tons. The completion and opening of this exhibition hall have enriched the museum’s displays, deepened its thematic content, and added a splendid attraction to Turpan.

In addition to these three core exhibitions, the Turpan Museum has also successfully hosted a variety of other exhibitions and educational activities since its establishment, including Calligraphy and Photography Exhibitions such as “Warm Care – Visits to Turpan by Party and State Leaders” and “Celebrating Hong Kong’s Return.” The museum has cumulatively welcomed nearly 500,000 domestic and international visitors. It also organizes annual educational visits for primary and secondary school students and offers free admission to active-duty military personnel, achieving significant social benefits. The museum has been designated as a Regional Patriotic Education Base, National Defense Education Base, and more. It has made unique contributions to promoting Xinjiang’s distinctive local culture and enhancing spiritual civilization.