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Explore the region
About Zhaoling Museum
Zhaoling Museum (昭陵博物馆) is the site museum of Zhaoling (昭陵), the joint tomb of the Tang emperor Taizong (唐太宗), Li Shimin (李世民), and Empress Zhangsun (长孙氏). It stands at the tomb of Li Ji (李𪟝), west of the Yanxia Town (烟霞镇) government in Liquan County (礼泉县), Xianyang, Shaanxi.
China National Radio places Zhaoling northeast of the Liquan county town. English Wikipedia calls it the largest Tang mausoleum and counts some 200 tombs of royals and senior officials around the emperor's own; Chinese Wikipedia notes that no other Tang mausoleum has as many satellite tombs. Zhaoling entered the first national list of key protected cultural sites in 1961. A cultural relics office was set up at Li Ji's tomb in 1972 and took the name Zhaoling Museum in 1978. It is a state-owned, second-grade museum.
Zhaoling's heritage authorities, working alone or with other institutions, have excavated or cleared dozens of the satellite tombs. Their steles and the epitaph stones found inside are gathered into the Zhaoling Stele Forest (昭陵碑林), which fills two of the four display halls. The other two present highlights of Zhaoling finds and murals from Tang tombs of the cemetery. In all, about 2,000 square metres of galleries show more than 400 pieces or sets.
The Six Steeds of Zhaoling (昭陵六骏), the mausoleum's famous stone reliefs, are not here: English Wikipedia records four in the Xi'an Forest of Steles and two in the University of Pennsylvania Museum in the United States.
What to look for
- The epitaph of Yuchi Jingde (尉迟敬德), noted for its 'flying white' (飞白书) brush script
- The three-ridge Jinde cap (三梁进德冠), described by China National Radio as the earliest Tang hat yet found in China
- Painted and gilded figurines of civil officials, showing Tang pottery craft
- The Zhaoling Stele Forest (昭陵碑林), steles and epitaphs from the satellite tombs in two halls
- The hall of Tang tomb murals from the Zhaoling cemetery
Location & getting there
Getting to Zhaoling Museum
- Search for 昭陵博物馆 with 咸阳市 and 礼泉县.
Find Zhaoling Museum
昭陵博物馆 · 礼泉县
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Sources & visit information
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-23. Opening hours, admission and access arrangements are not covered; confirm current visitor information with the site.
Some facts checked against Wikipedia contributors, "昭陵博物馆" · CC BY-SA 4.0.
Some facts checked against Wikipedia contributors, "Zhao Mausoleum (Tang dynasty)" · CC BY-SA 4.0.