#Handan Museum Travel Recommendations for 2024 (Updated in Jun)
#8 of Best Things to Do in Handan
Museums
Address:
45 Zhonghua N St, Handan, Handan Shi, Hebei Sheng, China
Opening times:
Opens at 09:00-17:00(Admission ends at 16:00)Open
Recommended sightseeing time:
2-3 hour
Phone:
0310-3012739
Traveling to Hebei in summer, you must check in at this national first-class museum
✅ I have shared with you the city of Handan before, which has a civilization history of over 8,000 years and a city-building history of more than 3,100 years. It was once the ancient capital of six dynasties: Cao Wei, Later Zhao, Ran Wei, Former Yan, Eastern Wei, and Northern Qi.
✅ Today, I want to share with you the most treasured museum in Handan - the Handan City Museum. Before the announcement of the fifth batch of national first-class museums, Handan Museum was one of the few national first-class museums in Hebei, naturally having its unique features.
✅ Although the museum's collection holds only 9,627 pieces, the precious cultural relics reach 252 pieces. It can be said that such a high proportion of precious cultural relics is an important factor for the Handan Museum to be promoted to a national first-class museum.
✅ In the four permanent exhibitions - 'Gandan Style - Handan Historical and Cultural Exhibition', 'Handan Ancient Stone Carving Art Exhibition', 'The World of Coins - Chinese Coins Exhibition through Dynasties', and 'Cizhou Kiln Porcelain Exhibition', there are unique cultural relics. Let's take a look together below.
👉🏻 The 1st relic: Warring States Bronze Horse
This is a group of relics from the Warring States period, which is 400 years earlier than the Han Dynasty horse stepping on a flying swallow unearthed in Wuwei. It is also the earliest realistic style bronze horse discovered in China, known as a 'national treasure'.
Upon closer inspection, the three bronze horses have different postures, whether walking with their heads raised, standing with their heads lowered, or foraging with their heads down, and their bodies and limbs are well-developed, suggesting they are likely modeled after adult Mongolian warhorses.
👉🏻 The 2nd relic: Tang Dynasty Red Sandstone Laughing Maitreya Head
Although the relic is not of the highest grade, its unique shape has made it one of the most favorite relics among netizens in the Handan Museum.
If you look closely at this Maitreya, it has a smiling face with two deep dimples on its cheeks. From a 360-degree view, you can see his smiling expression, which is why netizens also call it the 'Handan Smile'.
👉🏻 The 3rd relic: Eastern Han Gold and Silver Coated Chariot-Shaped Wine Vessel and Tray
According to the inscription on this object: 'In the twenty-third year of Jianwu, made by the western workshop of Shu County.' It can be understood that this gold wine vessel is a famous official creation of the Han Dynasty - the masterpiece of the 'western workshop of Shu County'.
The wine vessel is carved with scenes of birds, animals, running deer, feathered men, and the Queen Mother of the West, and the base is inlaid with agate, turquoise, etc., showing it is very expensive. Such wine vessels are rare in China, and another one is kept in the Palace Museum.
👉🏻 The 4th relic: Openwork Kui Dragon Pattern Gold Ornament
It is the symbol of the Handan Museum. The entire object is made of gold. Upon closer inspection, you can also see the grassland-style cloud patterns and the symmetrical openwork Kui dragons, which indicate the integration of Central Plains culture and grassland culture at that time.
👉🏻 The 5th relic: Warring States Copper Gilt Inlaid Jade Three-Dragon Ornament
This object is a sword pommel from the Warring States period. This gilt bronze and jade inlaid dragon sword pommel can be said to symbolize the ritual status of the time. The craftsmanship is exquisite, and the design is beautiful, also showing us the highly developed casting industry and jade craftsmanship of the Zhao state during the Warring States period.
Other must-see relics: Northern Dynasties Wan Zhangling tomb pottery figurines, red agate belt hooks, Han Dynasty celestial deer iron, stone-carved attendant Bodhisattva statues, tomb-guarding beasts from the Sui and Tang dynasties, etc.
✅ Travel Tips:
🚌 How to get there: Take bus 4/21 at Handan East Station and get off at Longhu Park Station
quill_3142
Unmatched Buddhist statuary art
❤️ The 'Handan Ancient Stone Carving Art Exhibition' at the Handan City Museum mainly showcases the exquisite stone carving art from the Northern Dynasties to the Northern Song period.
🧡 Main highlights:
1⃣️ The third cave of the Northern Xiangtangshan Grottoes (restored at a 3/5 scale, pictures 3-5). The third cave is the largest, earliest excavated, and most exquisitely carved cave in the Northern Xiangtangshan Grottoes, also known as the Great Buddha Cave. This cave, with its grand scale and exquisite art, represents the Xiangtangshan Grottoes.
2⃣️ Tang dynasty red sandstone smiling Luohan head (picture 6), although small in size, it has a loud name 'Handan Smile', smiling sweetly from every angle for over a thousand years.
3⃣️ Tang dynasty red sandstone Bodhisattva head (picture 7), the cover figure of the Handan Museum's brochure.
4⃣️ The bas-relief of the Thousand-Handed Guanyin in the Fahua Cave Grottoes of Wu'an (picture 8), reflects to some extent the widespread influence of Esoteric Buddhism during the Tang and Song periods.
💜 The overall style of the 'Handan Ancient Stone Carving Art Exhibition' is simple and grand, representing the rich aesthetic concepts of ancient times. It not only contains brilliant and profound ideological content but also showcases increasingly sophisticated creative techniques and methods. It embodies the Chinese nation's ability to absorb foreign cultures and creative talents. As a dazzling flower of the splendid national classical culture and a towering monument of the long-standing Eastern civilization, these unmatched Buddhist statues will forever be deeply moving.
1mper1um_K@1s3r
Ink Language—Liu Tianying's 50-Year Freehand Flower and Bird Painting Exhibition
🌺 The Handan Museum presents the 'Ink Language—Liu Tianying's 50-Year Freehand Flower and Bird Painting Exhibition'. The exhibition features over 50 exquisite paintings, which are the crystallization of Liu Tianying's decades of meticulous research in the art of flower and bird painting, and also a summary and display of his more than 50 years of artistic journey.
🏵️ Mr. Liu Tianying is the former secretary of the Handan Museum, the deputy director of the Handan Painting Academy, and a renowned flower and bird painter in Handan. His paintings are rooted in tradition yet clever in variation, with grand compositions, unrestrained brushwork, profound artistic conception, and a harmonious blend of subject and self, exuding immense artistic charm.
🎋 He innovated the accumulated ink painting method for bamboo, creating layers upon layers of bamboo forests and seas, brimming with vitality and energy, making viewers feel as if they are hearing the sound of wind and rain, and their spirits are filled with endless vitality. His work 'Rising by the Section' was once presented as a state gift to a Ugandan national leader.
JamesonBrennan28
I met the Cizhou Kiln I knew from playing games in person today
It was during 'Justice Online' that I learned about Cizhou, and when I went to Ci County in Handan, I felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity. Although it was my first visit, it felt like revisiting an old place, and the overlap between the virtual and the real was quite magical.
📷📷📷📷
Cizhou Kiln has a renowned reputation, and due to time constraints, I couldn't manage to visit the related museums. I could only satisfy my curiosity by looking at the Cizhou Kiln porcelain display at the Handan City Museum. From celadon to black designs on a white background, from Pengcheng Kiln to blue and white porcelain with multicolor, it somewhat made up for the regrets of this trip.
Travelicious Tastes
Handan Museum, more than just a check-in spot
Handan Museum is a municipal comprehensive museum in Handan City, established in 1984, located at 399 People's East Road, west side of the Cultural and Art Center in Handan, Hebei Province, China, with a total building area of 30,679 square meters. In 2017, it was rated as a national first-class museum. Here is some information about Handan Museum:
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 9:00-17:00 (entry stops at 16:30), closed on Mondays (except for statutory holidays).
- Collection size: As of June 2023, there are 9,627 cultural relics in the museum, including 252 precious artifacts.
- Exhibition hall introduction: The museum has four permanent exhibitions: 'Gandan Splendor - Handan Historical and Cultural Display', 'Ancient Handan Stone Carving Art Display', 'The World in a Square - Display of Chinese Coins through the Ages', and 'Cizhou Kiln Porcelain Display'.
JUDE SALAZAR
You must visit the Handan Museum
There are free guided tours at 9:30 am and 2:30 pm every weekday. Just gather at the entrance on the first floor, no reservation needed. The tour includes visits to the third and fourth floors and lasts about an hour.
The first and second floors are likely for temporary exhibitions, which you can visit freely. The Handan Museum really has a lot of treasures, and Handan's history is indeed ancient, truly a city that has waited for three thousand years.