Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum

The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction and a patriotic education base.

The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum is located at No. 581 Northwest Road, Urumqi. It is the only provincial-level comprehensive regional museum in the autonomous region and the largest institution in Xinjiang for the collection, preservation, scientific research, and public education of cultural relics and specimens. Its preparatory office was established in 1953, construction began in 1958, and it was officially founded in 1959. The original museum was initially designed as an agricultural exhibition hall, featuring a mountain-shaped single-story building. In 1962, it was relocated to its current site, converted into a museum, and opened to the public. The name “Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum” was inscribed by the revolutionary veteran and then Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in 1959 during his inspection tour of Xinjiang.

The museum consists of ten departments: Conservation, Archaeology, Exhibition, Public Engagement, Cultural Relics Protection Technology, Archives, Research, Administration, Security, and Logistics Management. Its staff comprises ten ethnic groups: Uygur, Han, Kazakh, Mongolian, Hui, Xibe, Manchu, Russian, Salar, and Zhuang. Since its establishment, under the care of the Party and government, the museum has seen continuous development in all its endeavors. It has excavated and collected a large number of precious cultural relics, now housing a collection of 40,000 historical, ethnic, revolutionary, and other types of cultural relics and specimens. Among them, nearly 400 are classified as national first-class relics, accounting for about 60% of the total in the entire region.

With the support and attention of the Party Committee and People’s Government of the autonomous region, as well as relevant central ministries and commissions, the new building of the Xinjiang Museum was inaugurated as a key regional project on September 20, 2005. Senior leaders including Si Ma Yi Tie Li Wa Di, member of the Politburo Central Committee, Chairman of the Autonomous Region, and Regional President, personally attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new museum. The new building covers a construction area of 17,288 square meters, with one basement level, two above-ground levels, a main structure height of 18.5 meters, and a glass dome topping out at 29.5 meters. The building layout is primarily symmetrical in a linear “一” shape and features a strong Western Region style and local Xinjiang characteristics. Currently open to the public are the following exhibitions: “Rediscovering the Glory of the Western Regions – Exhibition of Xinjiang’s Historical Relics,” “Exhibition of Xinjiang Ethnic Customs,” “Eternal Mummies That Astonish the World – Exhibition of Ancient Mummies from Xinjiang,” “Forever with the Motherland” (four permanent basic exhibition halls), “Splendors of the Steppe – Memories of Ancient Western Region Costumes” (a medium-sized exhibition), and a temporary exhibition titled “Bronze Civilization: Treasures of the Central Plains – Exhibition of Xia, Shang, and Zhou Bronze Artifacts from Henan.”

Over the past 40-plus years since its founding, especially since the reform and opening-up, the Xinjiang Museum has made full use of the vast number of precious cultural relics unearthed across Xinjiang. It has consistently prioritized social benefits and taken on the mission of promoting historical materialism, patriotism, and ethnic unity education. Building upon the distinct local and ethnic characteristics of Xinjiang, the museum has organized over 80 various forms and themes of special and temporary exhibitions both within and outside the region, domestically and internationally. These exhibitions have attracted tens of millions of visitors from home and abroad. The museum has played a significant role in promoting China’s outstanding historical culture, advancing science education, delivering patriotic and ethnic unity education, safeguarding national unity, enhancing spiritual civilization, and expanding international cultural exchanges. It has also effectively showcased Xinjiang to the world.

Address: No. 581 Northwest Road

Phone: 0991-4536436

Further Reading:

· National First-Class Museum of China