I visited the Guanghan Sanxingdui Museum while I was in Chengdu (you can also read my writeup about my visit to Chengdu Museum). There were so many interesting things to see at the museum!
Guanghan Sanxingdui Museum In Chengdu: Full of Ancient Bronze, Jade and Gold Artifacts
The architecture inside the museum was really fascinating. There was a spiral walkway that curved around the whole museum and there were huge windows that let in plenty of sunlight.
The wall beside the elevator showed directions to the different exhibition halls and lecture halls.
The first thing that I saw was a tall bronze structure. It looked very elegant and graceful and took up a lot of space in the middle of one room. People were walking around it and admiring the small bronze figures on top of it.
There were also tiny bronze fruits that were displayed in a case.
And the bronze flower buds looked like their petals were just about to open.
I walked further into the room and saw many bronze bells. They were all in different shapes and sizes. But I saw that they were all from around the same time period.
Once I had seen all the bells, I saw a structure that looked a little like a tree. It looked very interesting but I had no idea what it actually was.
I saw another structure that was supposed to be a bronze bonsai tree. It looked like it had broken at some time and it didn’t look much like a tree. But there were pretty designs carved around the base.
All the bronze items were carefully displayed in glass cases and they were lit by overhead lights. They also had little labels explaining what they were and where they had been found. One complaint that I had was that the labels were hard to read, especially the English ones. Tourists would have difficulty understanding the items.
Then I saw a jade jar with a mythical tree pattern on it. The jade was a very light color.
The little peacock shaped artifact was absolutely stunning. It had been carved with so many details. I was very impressed at the sight of it.
Another metal structure that looked like a tree had also been carved very intricately. It was quite tall and the lights threw shadows on the wall behind it.
Next I found a colorful Chinese pottery base. It showed a money tree and a rich, well-dressed lady surrounded by dragons. The colors had faded a little but it must have been very bright once upon a time.
There were also some drawings and illustrations from ancient Egypt. It showed the Tree of Life and the famous Sun-Tree from the Mitanni Seal.
I just could not stop admiring some of the beautiful bronze sculptures. I walked all around them and took pictures so that I would remember them.
I also saw a large circular artifact that looked like a wheel.
I read the information that was provided and found that sun worship was very important during early human civilization. Many of the ancient civilizations practiced sun worship.
An artifact shaped like a tiger looked very stylistic and interesting. Of course, it didn’t actually look like a tiger. But I realized that tigers must have been very significant to the ancient people who lived in these areas at one time.
There was a bird faced statue of a deity that was really tall. I was interested in learning more about the religion and beliefs of the ancient people. They had some very strange looking gods and deities.
The museum had displayed a trio of bronze masks. The masks had such big eyes and ears! The nose was also big and wide and everything looked super-sized.
Another mask was very strange! It had rods protruding from the eye sockets and very large, elephant-like ears.
The museum was actually quite crowded and there were lots of visitors taking photos of the artifacts. They were also standing around and reading the labels and information. So it took me some time to see all the exhibits and artifacts.
There was a bronze statue of a big four-legged animal. It was faceless so I couldn’t tell what animal it was.
The huge bronze jars were all magnificent. I could make out so many detailed carvings around the sides of the jars. There were spirals and loops and animal heads.
I also saw a row of jade daggers without any handles. The edges of the daggers still looked sharp.
A bronze statue with many human figurines on it had gathered a large crowd of tourists. Everyone was taking pictures of the artifact.
There was a carving of some kind of ritual scene where four humans were carrying a deity of some kind on their shoulders.
I saw some terracotta pottery, including a very cute looking pig’s face.
The gold mask looked very expensive and luxurious.
