Forest of Stone Steles Museum

Basic Facts of Forest of Stone Steles Museum

Chinese Name: 碑林博物馆 Pronunciation: bēi lín bó wù guǎn

Building Time: 1994

Suggested Visiting Hours: 1 Hour

Park Area: About 4,900 square meters

Building Function: To show the ancient steles

Address: No.15, Sanxue Street, Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province

Best Visiting Season: Spring, Summer, Autumn (From March to November)

Entrance Fee

Opening Hours

Overview of the Forest of Stone Steles Museum

The Pavilion

The Forest of Stone Steles Museum was the earliest built museum of Shaanxi Province. The museum was built on the basis of “Xi’an Forest of Steles” with more than 900 years of history. It mainly collected, exhibited and studied inscription and stone inscription. It is a unique art museum in China. There are 11,000 exhibitions at this museum. The museum is divided into three parts, forest of stone steles, inscriptions and other antique exhibitions. The exhibition area covers 4,900 square meters.

History of the Forest of Stone Steles Museum

The Museum

The Forest of Stone Steles was built in AD 1087 in the Northern Song Dynasty.
 

In 1944, based on the Forest of Stone Steles, the Forest Stone Steles Museum was built.
 

In 1961, the Forest Stone Steles Museum was listed as the first batch of key cultural relics protection units by the State Council.
 

In 1987, Xi’an Beilin (Xi’an Forest of Stone Steles) was listed into the tentative list for China to apply for World Cultural Heritage.
 

In October 2018, the Forest Stone Steles Museum was selected as the research and practice base for the national primary and secondary school students.

Must-Visit Attractions at the Forest of Stone Steles Museum

Stone Carving Art Gallery

Stone Carving Art

The new stone carving art gallery takes “Chang’an Buddhism” as the exhibition theme. It exhibits 150 kinds of stone carvings from the North Wei Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, which represents the highest level of Chang’an Buddhism. The gallery is divided into the area of statue monuments, the area of statues, and the area of big statues. In the gallery, the typical pattern and artistic style of the statues of Buddha are showed clearly. In 2011, the “Chang’an Buddhism” was titled as one of the top ten exhibitions among museums in China. The new stone carving art gallery was honored as “China Construction Engineering Luban Prize”, the highest prize of project quality in Chin Construction.
 

The Forest of Stone Steles

Xi’an Beilin(the Forest of Stone Steles)

Xi’an Beilin was first built in AD 1087 in the Song Dynasty. Through the rebuilding in the different stages, the scale of Xi’an Beilin is expanded and the number of steles is also increased. Up to now, there are more than 4,000 steles and epitaphs from the Han Dynasty to the present. The number of steles in the Xi’an Beilin is the largest in China. The steles were built in different dynasties, with a time span of more than 2,000 years.
 

The Confucian Temple

The Confucian Temple

In the Tang Dynasty, the Confucian Temple was located near the west of the Department of State Affairs in Chang’an, ancient Xi’an. Through removals in the Song Dynasty, it was removed to the southeast corner of the city. Now, it is the location of the Xi’an Forest Stone Steles Museum. There are many remained buildings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as Zhaobi, the screen wall in front of the temple; memorial archway, the building erected for praising filial piety and feats; the pavilion for protecting the steles, and so on.

The Stone Carving Art

The Stone Carving Art Hall

The Stone Carving Art Hall was built in 1963. In the hall, the tombstone carvings are exhibited. The carvings are mainly from the period between the Han Dynasty and the Ming, Qing Dynasties. Here, you can see the stone carvings with different styles and in different periods, such as the Double Beast in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Li Shou’s Stone Coffin and Epigraph in the Tang Dynasty and Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum in the Tang Dynasty.

How to Get to the Forest of Stone Steles Museum

By Bus

Take bus 14, 23, 40, 118, 208, 214, 221, 223, 232, 706, 402, 512, 619, 704, 800, 258 and Travel 6, and get off at Wenchangmen Station.

By Subway

Take metro line 2, get off at the Yong Ningmen station, and walk towards the east for about 10 minutes.

By Taxi

Chinese: 请带我去碑林博物馆。English: Please take me to the Forest of Stone Steles Museum.

If you go to the Forest of Stone Steles Museum from the Xi’an Railway Station, it takes about 15 minutes. (about 12 yuan)

If you go to the Forest of Stone Steles Museum from the Xi’an South Railway Station, it takes about 50 minutes. (about 68 yuan)

If you go to the Forest of Stone Steles Museum from the Xi’an North Railway Station, it takes about 60 minutes. (about 50 yuan)

If you go to the Forest of Stone Steles Museum from the Xi’an Xianyang International Airport, it takes about 65 minutes. (about 110 yuan)

The Inside Vew

authorName23242: Yaqi Xiong

Date: 06/11/2020

Email: info@chinatourstar.com

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