Datong City Museum

The Datong City Museum is a local comprehensive museum of China. It was opened to the public in 1959 and after more than 50 years it has been developed into the second largest museum in Shanxi Province. The Museum has collected 13,000 relics, of which 132 items are first grade cultural relics. Most of the relics were unearthed in Datong, an ink stone, excavated from the site of former buildings of the Northern Wei Dynasty outside the South Gate of Datong City, is a rare relic of stone carving art. The gold-plated copper goblet, another invaluable relic, was from Persia (now Iran). The carved stone coffin, the column stand and the lacquer painting unearthed from the tomb of the Sima Jinlong (Minister of War) in the Northern Wei Dynasty provide valuable information for studying the calligraphy, painting, carving and lacquer ware of ancient China. Among the porcelain wares of China the porcelain pillow from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) is a rare art treasure from the Jingdezhen Kiln.