Xi’an Museum

Xi’an Museum, located in Beilin District, Xi’an, China, is a museum that showcases ancient Chinese history and art.

Planning your visit

Xi'an Museum is built around the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, and the two are effectively one site. The pagoda dates from 707, put up to hold Buddhist scriptures brought back from India, and has survived a millennium of earthquakes — losing its top two storeys along the way, which is why it ends abruptly. The museum beside it holds around 130,000 objects from Xi'an's history as Chang'an, the Tang capital and the eastern terminus of the Silk Road: Buddhist sculpture, Tang ceramics and figurines, seals, jade and the everyday material of a city that was for centuries the largest in the world.

It is far quieter than the Shaanxi History Museum and free to enter with reservation, which makes it one of the better value stops in a city dense with paid attractions. The surrounding park is used by local residents rather than tourists, with morning tai chi and calligraphy practised on the paving using water and long brushes.

Allow two hours for museum and pagoda together, longer if you climb the pagoda.

Bookable options include tours with transfers and a guide, and formats combining the museum and pagoda with calligraphy sessions in the grounds. Guided tours help with Buddhist iconography and the Tang material, which assumes background most visitors do not have. Current availability is listed below.