Great Wall Museum

» Jiayuguan, Gan Su

Great Wall Museum Overview & Map Weather Transportation Information

Great Wall Museum in Jiayuguan City, is the first of its kind in China to be devoted to the Great Wall. Built in 1989, the museum showcases the history and culture of the Great Wall in a comprehensive and systematic way. It is a special museum centered along the theme of the Great Wall to demonstrate its history and current status.

The Museum covers an area of 12,312 square meters with an exhibition area of about 1,766 square meters. Its main building takes a shape of a typical signal fire tower on the Great Wall.

The exhibition halls

Inside the museum there are seven exhibition halls. The basic part of the exhibitions is divided into four sections: the Great Wall in the spring and Autumn Period and the Warring Period, the Great Wall in Qin Dynasty and Han Dynasty, the Great Wall in Sui, Tang, Liao and Jing Dynasty, and the Great Wall in Ming Dynasty.

The museum concentrates on the central theme of the Great Wall, and uses scale models, diagrams, words and photos over 3000 years of history from the Warring States Period to the Ming Dynasty. The museum provides visitors with an excellent illustration of the past life of this vast, snaking wall.

It tells the visitor the history of the Great Wall over the time of 3,000 years and over the distance of 10,000 li (li is a measurement unit; one li is equal to a half kilometer). It also shows the results of the study on the Great Wall and archaeological findings of the last 50 years.

The various exhibiting forms

There are different exhibiting forms: charts, models, diagrams, texts, and pictures. They, on the one hand, provide rich information for researchers on the Great Wall; on the other hand, provide integrated and direct knowledge for visitors. The museum is really a textbook on the Great Wall culture.

A long oil painting

The museum is home to a 21-meter-long and 10.5-meter-wide oil painting depicting the western part of the Great Wall, which crosses deserts and follows mountain ridges for more than 5,000 kilometers until it reaches the Shanhai Pass on the east coast in Liaoning Province.

How to get there

The museum is in the southern part of Jiayuguan City. Take bus No.1, or any mini bus heading to the railway station, and get off at the Worker's Culture Palace - the museum is a few minutes' walk south from here.

When to see

• Opening Hours
  Monday to Friday: 08:00a.m. - 18:00p.m. Weekends: 10:00a.m. - 16:00p.m.

Attractions around » Jiayuguan, Gan Su

Historical Site

• Jiayu Pass
• Weijin Art Gallery
• Overhanging Great Wall

Cultural Site

• Weijin Art Gallery
• Great Wall Museum

Great Wall Museum Highlights

Great Wall attraction highlights

• Great Wall at Badaling
• Great Wall at Mutianyu
• Great Wall at Juyong Pass
• Jiayu Pass
• Great Wall at Simatai
• Great Wall at Huangyaguan
• Great Wall at Jinshanling
• Shanhai Pass
• Laolongtou
• Great Wall Museum
• Overhanging Great Wall
• Niangzi Pass
• Great Wall at Hushan
• Pingxing Pass

city highlights

• Beijing
• Dunhuang
• Datong
• Jiayuguan
• Qinhuangdao
• Dandong
• Daixian
• Yangquan

Museum in Great China

• Forbidden City
• Terracotta Warriors and Horses
• Shaanxi Provincial History Museum
• Sanxingdui Ruins
• Dunhuang Museum
• National Museum of China
• Shanghai Museum
• Weijin Art Gallery
• Gansu Provincial Museum
• Xi'an Banpo Museum
• Dinosaur Museum
• Han Yang Ling Museum
• Forest of Stone Steles Museum
• Tibet Museum
• Jingdezhen Ceramic History Museum
• Dongba Museum
• Chongqing Three Gorges Museum
• Hubei Provincial Museum
• Shanghai History Museum
• Great Wall Museum
• Memorial Hall to the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre
• Han Dynasty Tomb Museum
• Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
• Xianyang Museum
• Shandong Provincial Museum
• Nanjing Museum
• Meteorite Museum
• Salt History Museum
• Inner Mongolia Museum
• Hunan Provincial Museum
• National Tea Museum
• China National Silk Museum
• Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine
• Luoyang Museum
• Chen Family Temple

Great Wall Museum FAQ & Travelers's Tips