Situated one kilometre north-west of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xian's southern suburb, the Shaanxi Provincial History Museum - a striking Tang-Dynasty style pavilion, houses a large collection of 113,000 historic and cultural artefacts unearthed in Shaanxi. It is an absolute must for every visitor to the city.

The main complex is a mixture of ancient palaces and courtyard buildings, harmonious and graceful in hue, in simple and elegant style. The exhibits on the ground and first floors are arranged in roughly three parts: Basic Exhibition Hall, the Theme Exhibition Hall and East Exhibition Hall. As well as the chronological dynastic exhibits including the Han, Wei, Jin, North and South, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the pre-historical and bronze period exhibits, together with terra cotta figures and murals from tombs of the Tang Dynasty, are highly recommended.

Basic Exhibition Hall

This hall focuses on the pre-history times of Shaanxi and cultural relics and remains from the dynasties of the Zhou, the Qin, the Han and the Tang. The hall includes the Preface Hall, the Shaanxi local history exhibition hall, and the central hall. The exhibition is divided into seven parts of the stone age, the dynasties of the Zhou, the Qin, the Han, the Wei, the Jin, the South and North Dynasty, the Sui, the Tang, the Song, the Yuan, the Ming and the Qing.

East Exhibition Hall

This hall mainly holds temporary exhibitions from home and abroad. The hall has held several exhibitions including "The Zhaoling Mausoleum's Fine Cultural Relics Exhibition", "The Tang Dynasty's Tomb Real Murals Exhibition", "Grand Exhibition of Gold and Silver Vessels from the Tang Dynasty", "Exhibition of Costumes of Women in the Tang Dynasty", "Exhibition of Cultural Relics of Empress Wu Zetian and Women in the Tang dynasty" etc.

Theme Exhibition Hall

This hall is 2,500 square meters in size and it is mainly for holding various types of theme exhibitions with a focus on Shaanxi local cultural characteristics. Many exhibitions such as "Shaanxi Fine Bronze Objects Exhibition" and "Many Dynasties' Fine Terra-cotta Figures Exhibition" etc. have been held here.

A science and technology center has been built for the preservation of relics. Language is not a barrier, because the computer-controlled, international symposium hall provides spontaneous interpretation into six different languages.