Shaanxi Nature Museum

Shaanxi Nature Museum, covering a total area of 17 acres, has collected over 20,000 specimens, some of which can be traced back to 3.7 billion years ago. The specimens provide visitors with a chance to communicate with history, nature, and science. This museum is divided into four exhibition areas: Nature Hall, Technology Hall, Fulldome Theater, and Outdoor Exhibition Areas.

Nature Hall

The first showroom in Nature Hall is Rare Animals’ Exhibition Hall, the first foreign specimen exhibition in Northwestern China. With an exhibition of different regions in the world, this exhibition reproduces the real life of wild animals in ancient times. The visiting models with multimedia and sound effects make people experience the mysterious animals’ world in person. There are brown bear specimens of 2.5 meters (2.7 yards) tall, a mighty American lion specimen, an agile black-backed jackal specimen and a snow-white goat specimen. Besides that, majestic mountains like Kilimanjaro and the Rocky Mountains, as well as vividly imitated scenes like wildebeest migration crossing the Mara River, are presented in front of your eyes. In addition, the specimens of land animals and various fishes is another spectacular view.

Then you might come to the Light of Coal Sea Hall, the only exhibition hall to show the formation, exploration, mining, utilization and ecological protection of coal in Shaanxi Province.

The next hall-Light of Life, mainly focuses on the knowledge of human body and life science. Through the simulated silicone body models, the operating tables, robot doctors, as well as videos and data of cutting-edge biotechnology, it introduces the structure of the human body and health care knowledge to visitors.

After learning about human beings, four treasures in Qinling Mountain - panda, crested ibis, snub-nosed monkey, takin and their living environments are truly reproduced in Mystical Qinling Mountain Hall. Besides that, this hall exhibits a great quantity of rare animal and plant specimens, such as the South China tiger, musk deer, birds of paradise, Chinese yaw and ginkgo.

Then, you enter Insects’ Kingdom. There is a display of rare insects’ specimens from all over the world, for instance, the beautiful butterflies, moths and peculiar beetles. Beyond that, you might join the interactive games to learn the relevant knowledge and stories of insects.

Besides the above-mentioned, there are Paleontology and Geology Halls. You can view the fossil specimens and skeleton models to retrospect the origin of life and learn the knowledge of continental drift and geological movement.

Technology Hall

Entering into the second building of Shaanxi Nature Museum-Technology Hall, you may firstly be guided into the Mirror Maze, where is a small room with mirrors around. There you can learn about light knowledge through the audio introduction device.

After experiencing the Mirror Maze, walk into the next exhibition hall- Mathematician Wall. It is engraved with pictures of great mathematicians from ancient times and their scientific outcomes, most of which are basic mathematical knowledge, in order to inspire visitors’ interest in math

The last hall in this zone is Science and Technology Museum. It displays the basic knowledge of sound, light, electricity, force and magnetism through lots of interaction programs. The Science Theater in the central round hall often provides science shows and performances.

Fulldome Theater

Shaanxi Nature Museum houses the only Fulldome Theater in northwestern China, which can accommodate 175 people at the same time. The Fulldome Theater is located on the third floor in Technology Hall. With a huge hemispherical screen and ultra-wide angle fisheye lens, this theater makes audiences perfectly blend into the movie plots, and experience a wonderful audio-visual enjoyment. The projection timetable: Wednesday - Friday: 14:00; Saturday - Sunday: 11:30, 13:30, 14:30, 15:30; Public Holidays: 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 12:45, 13:30, 14:15, 15:00, 15:45, 16:30, 17:15; Summer and Winter Holidays: 11:30, 13:30, 14:30, 15:30.

Outdoor Exhibition Areas

In the East Square of Shaanxi Nature Museum stands a sculpture of a car robot, which takes “Optimus Prime” in Transformers as the template. This sculpture is 6.3 meters (6.8 yards) high and 4,600 kilos (10,141 pounds) in weight, soldered with nearly a thousand pieces of waste parts of vehicles. Children coming to the museum always scramble to take photos with this huge “Optimus Prime”.

Mamenchisaurus Scenic Area is located at the west gate of the museum. “Roaring” from time to time 36 meters (39 yards) in length, is the largest sauropod dinosaur found in China so far. There are also "Oviraptor ", "Triangle Dragon", and all kinds of enlarged dinosaur eggs.

World of Birds is located in the North Square of the museum. There are over 50 species of birds in the steel-net room, such as green peacocks, mandarin ducks, and colorful parrots. There is also a fish pond filled with fancy carps, goldfishes, and colorful lotuses. It is a wonderful spot for visitors in summer.

In the South Square of the museum, you may be attracted by a huge tyrannosaurus. As a carnivorous dinosaur, it has a huge head, stout neck and sharp teeth. It always overlooks people and “roars” shaking its head and wags. Standing beside this dinosaur, you might seem to step into the Jurassic Forest.

Tips: No flashlight when taking photos inside the museum.

How to get to Shaanxi Nature Museum:

Shaanxi Nature Museum is located on South Chang’an Road, Xi’an.

1. Take metro line 2 to Huizhanzhongxin (Convention & Exhibition Center) Station, and get out from Exit B in the museum.

2.Take bus No. 19/44/106/161/162/212/215/217/239/270/320/323/408/504/526/527/603/616/631/905/917/923, get off at Conference and Exhibition Center Station and walk for 500 meters (545 yards) to the museum.

3. Take bus no. 166/226/320/600 and get off at TV Tower Station.