National Museum of China

National Museum of China, museum in Beijing, located on the east side of Tiananmen Square. The museum was created in 2003 by the merger of the National Museum of Chinese History and the Museum of the Chinese Revolution. It is the largest museum in China and one of the largest museums in the world.

The National Museum of Chinese History, the main exhibits of which covered the history of China from its earliest beginnings up until the Chinese Revolution of 1911–12, was established at the former Imperial College of the Ming and Qing dynasties in 1912 and later expanded to rooms above the south gate of the Forbidden City and associated spaces. It opened to the public in 1926 and was reorganized in 1997 based on the latest archaeological and historical findings and arranged in chronological order. The Museum of the Chinese Revolution, established in 1950, was dedicated to the history of China from about 1840 onward, particularly highlighting the history of the Chinese Communist Party. A new building to house the two museums was completed in 1959.

After China won the bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, officials decided to combine the museums into a single entity and embarked on a massive renovation of the building. Construction began in 2007, and the museum reopened to the public in 2011, boasting some 2,153,000 square feet (200,000 square metres) of space—nearly three times its original size. The museum’s collection features more than one million objects, ranging from replicas of bones of Peking man to scientific instruments introduced to China by missionaries in the 18th and 19th centuries and many hundreds of decorative objects—such as bronzes, pottery, lacquerware, jade, and textiles—and documents, art, and artifacts ranging from the Paleolithic Period to the present.