A glimpse of world's first ancient tombs museum

Located on Mangshan Mountain, Luoyang Ancient Tombs Museum presenting Chinese ancient tombs is the world's first museum of its kind. [Photo/DFIC]

The museum comprises two sections: one underground and one on the ground. It has relocated and recovered 25 representative tombs and displays about 600 cultural relics dating back the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 9 AD) to the Song dynasty (960–1279).

The section on the ground contains a Han-style gate and several halls. Tomb models from the Stone Age to the Han dynasty, restored funerary objects and funeral rituals are displayed in the eastern hall.

The museum comprehensively exhibits ancient tomb buildings, relics, tomb murals, brick arts and the environment.

Different from the imperial mausoleums in foreign countries, which are tall and majestic, the majority of tombs exhibited in Luoyang Ancient Tombs Museum are family tombs. There are many tomb murals in the museum. The painting skill was inherited from the Warring States Period (about 475 BCE to 221 BCE).