Chongqing Travel | The Hidden Gem County Museum - Yongchuan Museum

The main building of Yongchuan Museum is a traditional antique building of Sichuan and Chongqing style, consisting of three floors, covering natural, historical, and cultural fields. The main exhibition areas include Beautiful Yongchuan, Sea Change, Dinosaur Homeland, Natural Treasures, Ancient Tracking, Rich Han Culture, and Prosperous Yongchuan, etc. In addition to the basic historical relics display, it also focuses on the exhibition of the Yongchuan Dragon and Sigillaria fossils from upstream, as well as calligraphy and painting artworks represented by Chen Zizhuang. It's a great choice whether you are a relic enthusiast appreciating artifacts and art, or taking kids for a weekend trip! Exhibition Halls: 1. Nature Hall 2. History Hall 3. Calligraphy and Painting Hall What impressed me the most was the huge Yongchuan Dragon fossil right at the entrance, which I had only seen in books before. Seeing it in person was truly stunning. Also, the Ming Dynasty gilded bronze Thousand Buddha Stupa on the second floor can be called the treasure of the museum. The stupa has thirteen layers of dense eaves-style pavilions, each layer supported by eight Mani banner-shaped eave columns. The columns on the bottom layer are 7 centimeters high, gradually shortening to 4.8 centimeters on the thirteenth layer. According to the inscriptions inside, the stupa was cast by Zhang Hanyan and others from Yongchuan who were living in Yunnan during the forty-second year of the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty (1614) and then transported back to Yongchuan County to be enshrined in Dongshan Temple on the southeastern outskirts of the county town. The stupa had a tumultuous fate after arriving at Dongshan Temple. In 1952, the temple was destroyed, and the stupa was moved to the Senghui Temple in the city. In 1966, the Senghui Temple was destroyed, and the stupa was handed over to the county scrap company to be melted down. The county cultural center, upon hearing the news, reclaimed the bronze stupa, which has since been housed in the museum. The museum opened its doors to visitors in 2018. In 2020, Yongchuan Museum was selected as 'The Fourth Batch of National Second-Level Museums'. 🎫 Admission is free, no reservation is needed, just register on-site to enter. 🏛️ Address: No. 801 Wenchang Road, Yongchuan District, right next to Shennv Lake. 🚌 Transportation: About 1 kilometer from 'Yongchuan East Station', take bus 112, 302, or 129 and get off at Shennv Lake Station.