PLACE GUIDE

Erlitou Xia Capital Site Museum 二里头夏都遗址博物馆

Erlitou Xiadu Yizhi Bowuguan

The Erlitou museum brings the finds of an early Bronze Age centre back beside its archaeological landscape.

Erlitou Xia Capital Site Museum and its grounds, Luoyang · 洛阳二里头夏都遗址博物馆
Erlitou Xia Capital Site Museum and its grounds, Luoyang · 洛阳二里头夏都遗址博物馆 Photograph date recorded by the source: 15 August 2024, 14:57:41. · Windmemories · Windmemories — 20240815_Erlitou_Xia_Capital_Site_Museum_01.jpg — CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Explore the region

Henan · 河南省 →Luoyang · 洛阳市 →

About Erlitou Xia Capital Site Museum

Turquoise-inlaid bronze plaques and jade blades show the specialised craftsmanship associated with the site, while the building’s earth and aged-copper surfaces echo the materials of archaeology. Erlitou is widely discussed in relation to the Xia dynasty, but its precise dynastic identification remains debated. The collection is valuable even without treating that identification as settled.

The museum stands in Sijiaolou village, Yanshi District, about 300 meters north of the Erlitou site reserve, and is jointly built and managed by the Luoyang municipal government and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Archaeology. Although excavation at Erlitou had continued since 1959, the site long lacked adequate facilities for storing and displaying finds. Groundbreaking took place in June 2017, and the museum opened to the public free of charge in October 2019.

Construction had begun under the name Erlitou Site Museum; despite a 2017 recommendation from the National Cultural Heritage Administration against using the term ‘Xia capital’ (夏都) in the name, the Luoyang municipal government renamed it the Erlitou Xia Capital Site Museum (二里头夏都遗址博物馆) in 2019.

Designed by a team led by Professor Li Li of Tongji University, the museum covers a site of about 246 mu (亩), with a total building area of 31,781 square meters in a steel-frame structure 22.9 meters high. Roughly 4,000 cubic meters of rammed earth cover the ground-floor exterior, while the upper floor's facades and roof are faced with more than 27,000 aged purple-copper panels across over 30,000 square meters. The museum has five permanent exhibition halls and two temporary halls.

What to look for

  • Turquoise-inlaid bronze ornament, combining metalwork with carefully fitted coloured stone.
  • Jade blades, including the seven-hole knife, alongside the site’s early bronze vessels.

The surrounding area

A city base for Longmen, soup breakfasts, old-city food streets and contemporary hanfu visitor districts.

Location & getting there

Getting to Erlitou Xia Capital Site Museum

Travel to Sijiaolou Village in Zhai Town, Yanshi District, beside Gucheng Expressway. The museum stands south of the protected Erlitou site; specify the museum entrance for the final road transfer and confirm any separate arrangements for the archaeological park.

General visit reminders

Choose the building, exhibition or part of the historic area you most want to see, then leave time to explore its setting. Check the venue’s current opening and reservation arrangements directly; a place appearing on the map does not mean every building or gallery is accessible on your travel date.

Combine your visit

A suggested sequence linking the specific features of this visit.

  1. Early settlement and site interpretation

    Begin with the layout and chronology of the archaeological centre.

  2. Bronze and turquoise objects

    Examine specialised materials and elite craftsmanship.

  3. Jade displays

    Compare the stone-working tradition with the bronze objects.

This order is editorial. Confirm access and any transfers between stops; it does not establish a walking route, same-day connection or common admission ticket.

AI illustration: AI illustration: bronze vessel; generic detail, not a photograph of this place.
AI illustration · AI 示意图（景观类型参考，非实拍） · 青铜礼器纹理 — A general visiting detail, not an exact view of this place.
Museums, art & science · 博物馆／艺术科技 →

Find Erlitou Xia Capital Site Museum

二里头夏都遗址博物馆 · 洛阳市

Amap · 高德地图Approximate pin · 近似位置Apple Maps · 苹果地图

The pin marks the area, not the entrance.

More places nearby

Approximate straight-line distances between map pins, not travel distances.

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Sources & visit information

The sources below support the place-specific description and arrival information. Suggested combinations are editorial planning ideas; confirm current opening, entry arrangements and transport services for your date.

Visitor information adapted and edited from Wikipedia contributors, “二里头夏都遗址博物馆” · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 94117140.

Visitor information adapted and edited from Wikivoyage contributors, listing “Erlitou Xia Capital Site Museum” · CC BY-SA 4.0.

Background paragraphs translated and condensed from Wikipedia contributors, "二里头夏都遗址博物馆", Chinese Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 94117140.

Background paragraphs condensed from Wikipedia contributors, "Erlitou Site Museum of the Xia Capital", English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 1353058437.

China Revealed · Editorially updated 2026-10-07