Dalian Natural History Museum 大连自然博物馆

About Dalian Natural History Museum

A North Pacific right-whale specimen provides a striking sense of scale, while a group of Psittacosaurus fossils brings the story onto land and into Liaoning's deep past. The museum also interprets regional forests, wetlands and the Jehol fossil fauna. A focused route through marine life and palaeontology makes a coherent visit, with the shoreline outside providing a useful geographical context.

The museum's original building was built in 1898 as a city hall under Tsarist Russian administration, and in 1997 it was listed by the State Council as a nationally protected historic building. The idea of the museum traces to a geological survey institute founded in 1907 by Japan's South Manchuria Railway Company (南满洲铁道株式会社), which was renamed several times, including the Manmeng Resources Hall (满蒙资源馆) in 1928 and the Manzhou Resources Hall (满洲资源馆) in 1932.

After 1945 the China Changchun Railway Company (中国长春铁路公司) took over the institution and renamed it the Northeast Local Gazetteer Museum, with the Soviet geologist Yegorov (叶果洛夫) as director; it became the Northeast Resources Hall in 1950 and was formally named Dalian Natural History Museum in 1959, with its name inscribed by Guo Moruo (郭沫若), president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院). In 1995 the city decided to relocate the museum to the Heishijiao coast, where the present building opened in October 1998.

In 2003 the museum agreed with Kenneth Eugene Behring (肯尼斯·尤金·贝林) to receive donated African wildlife specimens; over the next three years it received 114 specimens, including African elephants, cheetahs and hippopotamuses, and opened a dedicated Behring Hall in 2006. The museum was rated a Class A paleontological fossil collection unit in 2018 and a National First-Level Museum in 2020.

What to look for

• The North Pacific right-whale specimen and marine-life displays.
• The Psittacosaurus fossil group and Liaoning palaeontology collections.

The surrounding area

Southern coastal city base with a specific waterfront focus around Xinghai Bay, Xinghai Square and selected Binhai Road walking sections. The Changshan Islands require an additional island travel plan.

Location & getting there

Getting to Dalian Natural History Museum

Go to the current museum at 40 Xicun Street, Heishijiao. This waterfront building is separate from the museum's historic former premises in central Dalian.