Located to the east of the Purple Mountain in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, the Nanjing Museum was established in 1933, and was the first national museum funded and constructed by the central government.
Since its founding, generations of staff members of the museum have made great endeavor to promote scientific researches and public service. After the reconstruction and expansion project completed in 2013, the construction area increased to 84,800 square meters, and the exhibition area 26,000 square meters. The whole estate turned out to be one museum comprised of six galleries, devoted to history, special exhibitions, arts, digital representation, the Republic of China and intangible cultural heritage respectively. The History Gallery showcases the ancient civilization of Jiangsu Province. The Special Exhibitions Gallery focuses on themed exhibitions of collections from the imperial court, and special exhibitions jointly held with domestic and foreign museums. The Arts Gallery presents sculptures, paintings and calligraphy of the past dynasties, and includes several celebrity halls. The Digital Gallery provides visitors a new way to approach the Chinese civilization through a combination of virtual visit and on-site experience. The Republic of China Gallery shows the urban life of Nanjing when it served as the capital of the Republic of China through the re-production of historical buildings and scenes of that time. The Intangible Cultural Heritage Gallery shows the intangible cultural heritage projects in a dynamic manner.
The museum holds a collection of more than 430,000 pieces (sets) of artifacts and artworks, which span the time from the Paleolithic period to the contemporary, and vary from bronze wares, jade wares, ceramics, gold and silver utensils, articles made from bamboo, wood, ivory and rhinoceros horns, lacquered wares, textiles and embroideries, to paintings and other kinds.
As one of the national museums jointly built by the central and local government, the Nanjing Museum inherits and carries over the mission since it was established, which is, “to promote scientific researches to supplement public education, and seek increment in knowledge and wisdom through displays and exhibitions”.
