Must-Visit Museums in Chengdu

Must-Visit Museums in Chengdu

Museums and cultural institutions beckon people to explore new cultures and topics through their carefully curated collections and transcending exhibitions. For those quick to dismiss the museum experience as boring, it’s time to think again. Galleries worldwide, from Senegal to Japan, have perfected the craft of designing compelling exhibits on art, history, and culture that can change any naysayer’s mind.

Whether you’re a history buff, science enthusiast or an art lover, here are some of the best museums in Chengdu to satisfy your interests.

Sichuan Science and Technology Museum

四川科技馆​

The Museum which spans 4 floors offers an array of exhibitions and activities. The first floor provides its visitors with a chance to engage with aviation technology, as well as water conservancy series.The second floor is dedicated to the search of wisdom. It explores the our basic disciplines, our expressed desire for knowledge, search for wisdom and traces of ideas. Level 3 is dedicated to life and survival and how our knowledge has evolved in order to assist this. The 4th floor is designed primarily for children, where they can enjoy several activities including virtual aircrafts, 360-degree rotation bike, and much more.The museum also aims to introduce augmented reality and virtual technologies, as well as a plethora of interesting interactive projects. Some of which include: a pilot simulator, a “World of Robots”, hydro-logical engineering hall and space capsules.

Address:

16, Section 1, Central Renmin Rd. 人民中路一段16号

(Right behind the Mao statue on Tianfu Square)

Open Hours:

9:30am-16:30pm (closed on Mondays)

Ticket Price:

Free Of Charge

Tel:

86609999

Chengdu Art Museum (Tianfu Art Park)

成都市美术馆

Chengdu Art Museum located in Tianfu Art Park, Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum and Chengdu Museum of Contemporary Art are the core venues of Chengdu Art Museum. Under the unified operation and management of Chengdu Painting Academy (Chengdu Museum of Art), it focuses on the history and status quo of art from different angles, connects tradition and contemporary, and strives to build a global art dialogue bridge and an international public aesthetic education exchange platform to promote the continuous prosperity and development of Chengdu’s fine arts cause.

Address:

Chengdu Art Gallery Area A (Chengdu Tianfu Art Gallery)
181 Huayan Road, Jinniu District (inside Tianfu Art Park)

成都市美术馆A区
金牛区华严路181号(天府艺术公园内)
Tel: 028-63068368

Chengdu Art Gallery Area B (Chengdu Art Gallery)
388 Jinniuba Road, Jinniu District (inside Tianfu Art Park)

成都市美术馆B区
金牛区金牛坝路388号(天府艺术公园内)
Tel: 028-63068616

Open Hours:

09:00am-20:00pm

Ticket Price:

Free Of Charge

Chengdu Natural History Museum

成都自然博物馆

The Chengdu Natural History Museum covers a total construction area of 50,520 square metres, including a total exhibition area of about 17,000 square metres.It displays the contents related to geological processes and environment, natural disasters and disaster prevention and reduction, mineral resources and protection and utilization.The origin and evolution of life, and biodiversity, etc. At present, the museum has nearly 70,000 collections and about 10,000 exhibits on display.

Address:

East of Shilidian Road, Chenghua Avenue, Chenghua District (West of Chengdu University of Technology)

成华区成华大道十里店路以东（成都理工大学西侧）

Open Hours:

09:00am-17:00pm

Ticket Price:

Adult 20RMB

Children & Student 10RMB

Tel:

028-60828500

Sichuan Museum

四川博物馆

In 1956,an event involving two great artists was publicized as a meeting between the art worlds of the East and West. Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), a Chinese painter known as the “Oriental Brush”, shared his experience of painting with the famous abstractionist Pablo Picasso when he was invited to exhibit in France. Mr. Zhang’s paintings were highly praised by westerners. Today, most of Zhang Daqian’s paintings are not allowed to be exhibited abroad. Those who want to see the great works must travel to the museum of his hometown, Sichuan.Sichuan Museum, covering an area of 12,900 square meters with 14 exhibition halls, collects more than 180 of Zhang’s works in a specially designed exhibition hall on the second floor. Zhang was very skilled at landscapes, figures, flowers, feathers, birds, fishes, and quadrupeds. His paintings of lotuses and his portraits of ladies are marvelous in the extreme.Sichuan Museum also exhibits cultural relics of Sichuan history from more than 5,000 years ago to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and the Republic of China (1912-1949) on the first floor. The bronze wares of the Ba-Shu era and pictorial bricks and pottery sculptures of the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD220) are the most distinguished. On the third floor, Buddhist cultural relics such as statutes, Chinese arts and crafts, and artifacts of Sichuan ethnic culture are available.

Address:

251 South Huanhua Rd.

浣花南路251号

Open Hours:

09:00am – 17:00pm

Ticket Price:

Adult 78RMB

Children 68RMB

Tel：

65521581

Chengdu Museum

成都博物馆

Established in 1958, Chengdu Museum is by far the largest comprehensive city museum in Southwest China as well as a national first-class museum. Since the opening of the new venue in 2016, it has received nearly 16 million visitors. Also titled “National Shadow Puppetry Museum in Chengdu” approved by the State Council in 2006, it is the first national museum in Sichuan Province and the only one in Chengdu.

The museum covers an area of about 11,333 square meters with a total floor area of around 65,000 square meters, of which about 20,000 square meters are devoted to exhibitions. There are three permanent exhibitions including “Full Bloom of the Brocade City: History and Culture Display of Chengdu (Ancient Times, Recent Historical Period and Folk Customs)”, “Shadow Play and Puppetry of China”, and “Man and Nature: Donations from Kenneth E. Behring”. The nearly 300,000 pieces of historical artifacts, shadow puppets, masterpieces of modern and contemporary paintings and calligraphy, and other series of cultural relics constitute a relatively complete collection across the eras from the Neolithic period to the Republic of China.

Address:

Qingyang District, West Yu Street No. 4 [West side of Tianfu Square]

青羊区西御街4号[天府广场旁边]

Open Hours:

09:00am-18:30pm

Ticket Price:

60RMB

Chengdu Wuhou Shrine Museum

成都武侯祠博物馆

The Chengdu Wuhou Shrine was constructed as a temple to commemorate Liu Bei, his chancellor Zhuge Liang and other eminent Shu Han figures. Its existence originates from the first year of the Zhangwu Era under the reign of Emperor Zhaolie (Liu Bei) of Shu Han (221), when Liu Bei’s Hui Mausoleum was being built, together with the Hanzhaolie Temple.

Around 500 AD during the period of the Northern and Southern dynasties, Wuhou Shrine relocated from the “Shaocheng City” of Chengdu to a site next to Hui Mausoleum and Hanzhaolie Temple, which was a move that lasted up to the Ming dynasty. During the 23rd year of the Hongwu Era (1390) under the reign of Emperor Hongwu of Ming, when Zhu Chun, the Prince Shuxian of Ming, came to the temple to pay homage, he decided to unify Hui Mausoleum, Hanzhaolie Temple and Wuhou Shrine together for the reason that “lord and ministers are suitable to be one”. Since the magnificence of Zhuge Liang overshadows that of Liu Bei in the hearts of many common folks, in general the complex is referred to as “Wuhou Shrine”.

Sanxingdui is one of the Southwest’s coolest recent discoveries, showcasing a major Bronze Age dig site in modern Guanghan, just 40 kilometres from Chengdu. It has helped us understand a lot more about how people would have lived back then – displaying a rich collection from this lost civilization, including 1,000 artefacts featuring abundant bronze wares – like the Bronze green/gold alien-like mask, that has become very famous after its discovery in the last few years.

The new museum (‘the largest single museum building in Southwest China’ – Yay!) opened end of 2023. Located in a quiet setting among the hill in Guanghan, but it is thought that several thousand years ago, these same hills were part of the city wall that surrounded a Bronze Age city. The discovery at Sanxingdui challenges the traditional narrative of Chinese civilization spreading from the central plain of the Yellow River, and Chinese archaeologists have begun to speak of “multiple centers of innovation jointly ancestral to Chinese civilization.

Address: 

Guanghan City, Nanxing Town, Xi’an Road No. 133

广汉市南兴镇西安路133号

Entrance: 

Adults 72RMB, kids/ students 36RMB

Travel companies offer various packages (Jinsha + panda base etc)

Opening Hours: 

Daily, 08:30-18:00

Tel.: 

028-85500349

Jinsha Site Museum

金沙遗址博物馆

Address: 

Qingyang District, Jinsha Yizhi Rd. No. 2(Qingyang Ave.)

青羊区金沙遗址路2号(青羊大道)

Metro:

Line 7, Jinsha Museum Exit C (550m)

Entrance: 

Adults 70RMB, kids/ students 35RMB

Opening Hours: 

08:00 – 17:30

Tel.: 

028-87303522

There are more museums we didn’t include because they’re little more on the niche side of things, but you may also be interested in the Chengdu Art Museum, Teddy Bear Museum of China, The LCA Aviation Museum, The Chuancai Museum (local Sichuan food), the Sanhe Vintage car museum, and others.

Please visit www.chengdu-expat.com for more information.