The Shaanxi History Museum is situated on Yan Ta Road in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province. The newly built modern building recreates Tang-dynasty architecture and successfully symbolizes the great extent of Shaanxi history and its remarkable culture.

Shaanxi was a premier in China's imperial past. Xian, was served as capitals of 12 dynasties over years. It was the seat of some oldest civilization. Xian, a place of significant importance in history is well-endowed with many historical sites and relics. Now most of these relics scattering around everywhere in the region have found their way in the Shaanxi Provincial History Museum. The building covers a area of over 70,000 square meters and houses more than 37,000 historical relics evacuated around Shanxi area, including Bronze wares from the Western Zhou Dynasty, 3 thousands years ago, terra cotta figures, gold and silver wares and murals discovered in Tang tombs, and much more.   

Exhibited in the main exhibition hall are 2,700 works of art, with an exhibition line that extends 2,300 meters. The exhibition space is divided into an introductory hall, permanent exhibitions, special exhibitions, and temporary exhibitions, as well as one that has been named the National Painting Hall.

Walking through the exhibits in the Provincial Museum is like walking through the history of what came to be known as the Silk Road. First, there are items from the Xia (2200 B.C.-1700 B.C.) and then the Ming and Qing dynasties. The collection from the Han through the Tang (618 A.D.-907 A.D.) and Song (960 A.D.-1279 A.D.) dynasties shows the changes of art and craftsmanship. It is not just that the skills have developed and changed (many of the early pieces are detailed and executed to perfection), it is also the viewpoint that has changed. The later works have a stronger reality base--a knowledge of an expanded world experience.

The Museum's permanent exhibition primarily displays Shaanxi's ancient history. Representative pieces from all periods have been selected to show the development of civilization in this region. The exhibition space of this display is 4,600 square meters. The superlative 2,000 selected objects include: painted Neolithic ceramics reflecting early people's living conditions and their pursuit of vibrant art forms, bronzes reflecting the rise of Zhou people, bronze weapons including swords, and statuary of horses and soldiers, reflecting the way in which Qin unified all under heaven, Tang-dynasty gold and silver objects and Tang sancai ceramics, reflecting the most flourishing period of feudal glory. All of this is accompanied by models of archaeological sites, and drawings, and photographs.

In this state-level museum, the essential cultural relics of tracing back from the Lantian (a county in Shaanxi) pithecanthrope of the prehistory to the different Chinese dynasties and to the First Sino-British Opium War (1840--1842) are exhibited in the Local History Hall. This hall covers an area of 6000sq.m, including two stories centrally located in the museum. In the west side within the museum is the Theme Exhibition Hall covering 2500sq.m, where shows the special themes with Shaanxi historical and cultural features such as the Silk Road, Yaozhou Porcelain etc. The opposite of the Theme Exhibition Hall is the Historical and Cultural Exhibition Hall (or East Exhibition Hall) covering a floor space of 2500sq.m. This hall is used for Sino-foreign cultural exchange and receiving and showing the quintessence of culture and antiquities from the other provinces and municipal cities of China. Moreover, there are some tributary facilities in the museum such as the Protection Centre of Cultural Relics, Library and Multifunctional Academic Report Hall etc.