ZPM

One of China’s oldest museums, Zhejiang Provincial Museum was founded in 1929 as the West Lake Museum of Zhejiang Province. Over the past eight decades, it has become the largest comprehensive museum for the humanities in Zhejiang. It is also a first-class National Museum that was developed jointly by central and local government.

The Gushan branch of Zhejiang Provincial Museum is located at the southern foot of Gushan Mountain. Most of its current buildings were rebuilt or expanded in 1993. It has a special garden-like layout consisting of individual buildings in a style characteristic of the region south of the Yangtze, and long winding corridors. In the west of its premises is the historic architectural complex of Wenlan Tower, which used to be the imperial library of the Qing dynasty and is now under national priority protection as a historic site. In the east is Zhejiang West Lake Gallery, which mainly features special art exhibitions. The elegant buildings nestling among the hills by the lake form an appealing cultural attraction in Hangzhou.

The Wulin branch, which was completed and opened to the public towards the end of 2009, is located downtown at the West Lake Culture Square. It is mainly used for exhibitions about Zhejiang’s history and traditional culture, its modern revolutionary history, and its intangible heritage. It is a new venue for displaying Zhejiang’s long history, splendid culture and revolutionary course as well as a new public space for the arts and humanities. Adjacent to the Grand Canal, the modernized buildings of the Wulin branch are filled with a vitality that encompasses both past and present.

Besides the two branches, Zhejiang Provincial Museum also includes Huang Binhong Memorial at Qixia Ridge, the former residence of Sha Menghai on Longyou Road, and the Research Centre for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage at Gudang. The total floor space is over 40,000 m2.

Zhejiang Provincial Museum houses over 100,000 items of cultural heritage, which cover a wide range and represent a complete sequence of eras. Among them are precious items with distinct regional features and significant academic value, such as the pottery, lacquer ware, wooden ware, bone tools and ivory artefacts of the Hemudu culture, the jade ware of the Liangzhu culture, the bronzes and primitive porcelain of the Kingdom of Yue, the celadon of the Yue, Longquan and other kilns, mirrors made in Huiji and Huzhou, gold and silver coins of the Southern Song dynasty, and paintings and calligraphic works by Zhejiang artists of the Ming and Qing dynasties. These treasures reflect the political, economic and cultural landscapes of Zhejiang during various historical periods and reveal the profound culture of the region.