Shanghai Museum
Completed on October 12, 1996, Shanghai Museum boasts 11 monographic galleries, one special gallery for donated relics, and three exhibition halls totaling 120,000 sq. m in floor space.
The architecture of the museum is quite distinct. It takes the shape of a square terrace with an immense dome and a few projecting arches, suggestive of a traditional belief that "the Heaven is round and the earth is square."
One of the biggest ancient art museums in China, the Shanghai Museum boats a collection of more than 130,000 pieces of invaluable relics of various kinds, including bronze ware, jade ware, wood ware, bamboo ware, lacquer ware, ivory ware, ceramics, pottery and porcelain ware, rare books, calligraphy, paintings, coins, seals, tortoise shells, inscribed bones, and the handicraft works of minority ethnic groups.
