Shanxi Museum, formerly known as the Education Library and Museum of Shanxi, was founded in 1919, and its new building was open to the public in 2005. With an investment of RMB 400 million yuan, it covers an expansive 168 mu (112,000 square meters) of land with a total floor area of 52,000 square meters. The exhibition space encompasses 13,000 square meters, while the storage facility for cultural relics spans 12,000 square meters. Shanxi Museum is the largest public institution in Shanxi Province dedicated to the collection, preservation, research and display of cultural relics and is tasked with the mission of preserving Chinese civilization and the historical and cultural heritage of Shanxi Province. The museum has been open to the public for free since March 2008, and was selected as one of China’s first national museums in May of the same year. In 2009, it was selected as one of the 11 national museums co-built by the central government and local authorities.

Since April 2020, as part of the institutional reform of the Shanxi provincial cultural heritage system, Shanxi Museum has been actively advancing reform and reorganization, merging with the former Shanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Center, the former Shanxi Cultural Relics Identification Center, the former Shanxi Cultural Heritage Information Center, and the former Shanxi Cultural Heritage Conservation and Research Center to form the new Shanxi Museum. The new museum consists of 16 departments with a clear division of responsibilities, including the Office (Party-Mass Affairs Department), Human Resources Department, Planning and Development Department, Bronze Museum Department (Shanxi Bronze Museum), Collection Research Department, Academic Research Department, Cultural Heritage Conservation and Research Department (Shanxi Cultural Heritage Conservation and Research Center), Exhibition Department, Public Services Department, Creative Cultural Product Development Department, External Communications Department, Ancient Book Conservation Department, Cultural Relics Identification Department, Cultural Heritage Data Department, Operational Support Department, and Security Department.

Shanxi Museum boasts a collection of more than 500,000 items. Among these, there are 40,282 pieces (sets) of precious cultural relics, including 2,129 pieces (sets) of grade-one cultural relics. The museum is also home to over 110,000 ancient books. Its collection mainly includes objects sourced from archaeological excavations since the 1920s and what has been collected over the past century, featuring bronzeware, porcelain, stone carvings, Buddhist statues, murals, calligraphy works and paintings.

The basic exhibition of Shanxi Museum, with the theme of “The Soul of Shanxi”, consists of seven historical and cultural sections, including Cradle of Civilization, Traces of Xia and Shang Dynasties, Achievements of Jin Kingdom, Melting Pot of Different Nationalities, Legacy of Buddhism, Hometown of Operas, and Shanxi Merchants as well as five artistic ones, including Ancient Architecture, Jade, Calligraphy and Paintings, Ancient Chinese Currency, and Ancient Chinese Porcelain. The museum hosts temporary and special exhibitions that showcase the rich historical and cultural heritage and characteristic cultural relics of Shanxi Province on a regular basis. Notable examples include the exhibitions on cultural relics of the Jin Kingdom, the art of Buddhist sculpture in Shanxi, calligraphy and paintings of Fu Shan, and the tomb décor of the Jin Dynasty from Shanxi, which have toured at home and abroad. The museum also organizes a variety of educational activities, such as mobile exhibitions in public cultural venues and institutions, history lectures, and interactive workshops to showcase the splendor of Shanxi’s history and culture from various cultural perspectives and to tell the stories of China and Shanxi well.

Shanxi Bronze Museum, a branch of the Shanxi Museum, is an important public cultural project deployed by the CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee and the provincial government. Opened in July 2019, it is the first provincial bronze museum in China. The museum, situated on the Cultural Island of Changfeng Cultural Business District, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, boasts an exhibition area of 11,000 square meters and has more than 2,000 bronze cultural relics on display, most of them precious cultural relics unearthed from archaeological excavations or recovered by public security organs while investigating the illegal trafficking of cultural artifacts. Taking the theme of “Glories of Bronze Age”, the basic exhibition consists of three sections that show the development and highlights of the Bronze Age in China: Foundations of Chinese Civilization, World of Rites and Music, and Achievements in Technique and Arts.

As an inheritor and promoter of Shanxi culture, Shanxi Museum has garnered a series of prestigious accolades and honors, including Top Ten Exhibitions of National Museums, National Outstanding Organization for Cultural Heritage Protection, National Outstanding Organization for Cultural System Reform, China’s Most Innovative Museum, National May Day Labor Certificate, Youth Model Unit Award, etc. and has been awarded the title of Exemplary Organization in Shanxi Province for many times. Adhering to the principle of being close to life, reality and the public, Shanxi Museum has given top priority to maximizing social benefits and serving the needs of the public and made efforts to establish itself as “a palace of art, a classroom for students, and a paradise for recreation”, contributing its share to the promotion of socialist cultural-ethical progress as well as to the social, economic and cultural development of Shanxi Province.