Hunan Museum 湖南博物院

About Hunan Museum

The story of Xin Zhui and her household anchors this collection, while the broader Hunan history exhibition places it within a longer regional sequence. This is the provincial museum on Dongfeng Road, not the archaeological tomb location itself. Choose time for the Mawangdui displays before adding other galleries, and check which special exhibitions require separate admission.

The museum was first established in March 1951 and formally founded in July 1956; the exhibition hall for objects excavated from the Mawangdui Han tombs (马王堆汉墓) opened in July 1974, and a new exhibition building opened on 13 January 2003. On 18 May 2008 it was named one of China's first National First-Grade Museums (国家一级博物馆) by China's Bureau of Cultural Relics (中国文物局). The museum closed for expansion and reconstruction on 18 June 2012 and reopened on 29 November 2017. It was renamed Hunan Museum (湖南博物院) on 30 July 2022, then renamed back to the Hunan Provincial Museum (湖南省博物馆) on 12 October 2025, when its administrative rank was raised.

The museum holds more than 180,000 items. Among the Mawangdui finds are the silk painting (帛画) from Tomb One, a plain unlined gauze robe (直裾素纱襌衣), and silk manuscripts covering politics, economics, philosophy, history, astronomy, geography and medicine. Hunan has long been a major source of excavated Shang- and Zhou-dynasty bronzes, including the Si Yang Fang Zun (四羊方尊); the museum's own bronze holdings include the uniquely shaped Da He Fang Ding (大禾方鼎), the finely decorated Min Tian Quan Fang Lei (皿天全方罍), and various Western Zhou to Warring States bronze weapons such as arrowheads, dagger-axes and swords.

What to look for

• The Mawangdui textiles, lacquerwork and burial assemblages.
• The broader Hunan history exhibition connecting different periods and communities.

Location & getting there

Getting to Hunan Museum

Use No 50 Dongfeng Road in Changsha. Make any required timed reservation through the museum’s own channels and bring the matching identification; follow the current entrance guidance rather than travelling to Mawangdui’s excavation site.