On the afternoon of the 20th, the Hubei Provincial Museum located on the shore of Wuhan's East Lake held the opening ceremony of the new museum, and precious cultural relics such as the "national treasure" Zeng Houyi chimes and the Yue Wang Gou Jian sword met with the audience with a new design and exhibition. With a systematic and complete exhibition system, the new museum vividly tells the story behind the cultural relics and makes the cultural relics collected in the museum "come alive".
Hubei Provincial Museum has a rich collection of cultural relics, with more than 240,000 pieces (sets) of existing collections and nearly 1,000 pieces (sets) of national first-class cultural relics, especially the Bronze Ware of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the Lacquered Woodware of the Chu Qin and Han Dynasties, and the golden jade artifacts excavated from the tombs of the Kings of the Ming Dynasty. In order to better highlight the characteristics of the cultural relics in the collection and reflect the latest academic research results, the new museum has set up 6 permanent thematic exhibitions of "800 Years of the Chu Kingdom", "Zeng Houyi", "Zeng Shijia - Zeng Guo of Archaeological Revelations", "Yue Wang Gou Jian Sword Special Exhibition", "Liang Zhuang Wang Treasures - Treasures of the Zheng He Era", "Eight Sounds and Ming - Music and Cultural Relics Exhibition".
ZengHou Yi chimes on display in the new hall of hubei provincial museum. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Cheng Min
Among them, the new exhibition hall of "Zeng Houyi" has a total of 2 upper and lower floors, which is divided into 7 parts, such as "Respecting heaven and revering ancestors" and "JinSheng Yuzhen", which explain the cultural relics of Zeng Houyi from multiple angles and reflect the ancient liturgical civilization. Zeng Houyi's chimes, who moved into the "new home", showed a romantic temperament against the background of the starry sky dome for the audience to watch from multiple angles.
The bronze set of "Zeng Boke Father" exhibited in the new museum of Hubei Provincial Museum. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Cheng Min
The exhibition "Zeng Shijia - Zeng Guo whoSe archaeology revealed" mainly focuses on the archaeological achievements of Zeng Guo over the past 10 years, revealing the development process of Zeng Guo from leading the way in the Jianghan region to nourishing the Chu state and finally integrating into the Chu culture. In 2019, the bronze group of "Father Zeng Boke", who successfully recovered from Japan, was among them and will be exhibited in Wuhan for a long time, which is the highest value of China's successful suppression of illegal trade and cross-border recourse in the international cultural relics market in recent years.
The exhibition "Eight Hundred Years of the Chu State" comprehensively displays the history and culture of the Chu State from material to spiritual, from documents to cultural relics. The exhibition "Treasures of The King of Liangzhuang - Treasures of the Zheng He Era" has been "upgraded" to an exhibition hall of nearly 1,000 square meters, from the dazzling "Treasures" of King Liangzhuang to the cultural exchanges between China and the West brought about by the Maritime Silk Road.
The Yue Wang Gou Jian sword on display in the new hall of the Hubei Provincial Museum. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Cheng Min
It is worth mentioning that another "national treasure", the Yue Wang Gou Jian Sword, is displayed in a separate exhibition hall, detailing the history of Vietnam through multimedia means, introducing the historical story and scientific and technological achievements behind the cultural relics, and being closer to the needs of the audience.
Li Qun, vice minister of culture and tourism and director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said at the opening ceremony that the Hubei Provincial Museum should take the opportunity of building an open new museum to focus on the core functions of collection, protection, research, display, education and dissemination, be the "vanguard" of the museum's high-quality development, be the "main force" to promote the equalization of public cultural services, tell The Chinese story well, spread the Chinese voice, and become a "booster" for enhancing civilization exchanges and mutual learning.
Aerial photo of the Hubei Provincial Museum on December 20. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Cheng Min
At the end of 2021, the third phase expansion project of Hubei Provincial Museum was successfully completed. With the design concept of "Dingsheng River City, Chu Yun Cornerstone", the total area of the new museum together with the old museum after completion and opening reached 113,800 square meters, of which the exhibition area reached 36,000 square meters, ranking among the best in the national provincial museums.
Reporter: Yu Pei
Editor: Liu Yuanyuan