Beijing Art Museum

　　Destination Introduction
　　Beijing Art Museum is located within Wan Shou Temple on North West Third Ring Road, Haidian District. In the fifth year of the Wanli era (1577) during the Ming Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cishengxuanwen, mother of Emperor Shenzong (Zhu Yijun), ordered the construction of a temple in western Beijing to house Han Buddhist scriptures, and bestowed upon it the name Wan Shou Temple. The temple was renovated and expanded during the reigns of Emperors Kangxi, Qianlong, and Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty.

　　　　Starting from the 1920s, Wan Shou Temple gradually fell into disrepair and was later used as a school and military quarters. It was designated as a cultural relics protection unit of Beijing in 1979. In June 1985, preparations began to establish the Beijing Art Museum here, and it officially opened to the public in August 1987. After further renovation, it reopened in April 1994 with newly restored temple buildings and ten series of exhibitions.

　　　　Admission: 10 RMB, 5 RMB for students

　　　　Location: Located within Wan Shou Temple on North West Third Ring Road, Haidian District

　　　　The temple faces south and covers an area of 31,800 square meters. It features both grand halls and pavilions, as well as uniquely designed stele pavilions. There are also three artificial hills within the temple grounds, with halls built atop them and, at their base, a fairy bridge, ponds, and caves symbolizing China’s three major Buddhist sacred mountains: Putuo, Qingliang, and Emei. The hills and their back areas are planted with pine, cypress, and ginkgo trees, creating an otherworldly landscape. Members of the Qing imperial family often stopped here for rest while traveling between the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, hence its nickname “Little Forbidden City of the West.”

　　　　Beijing Art Museum currently houses a collection of over 50,000 ancient artworks, including treasures from the Neolithic Age, Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties, as well as the Ming and Qing Dynasties and modern periods, with a focus on Ming and Qing artifacts. The collection spans a wide range of categories, including stone rubbings, imperial porcelain, ancient coins and seals, antique furniture, court embroidery, bronze ware, jade and stone carvings, bamboo, wood, ivory, and horn objects, lacquerware, and Buddhist statues.

　　　　Take bus 323, 374, 817, or 811 and get off at Wan Shou Si Station, on the east side of the road.  

　　 Haidian District, Beijing