Turpan Museum

Standing on the Gaochang Road of Turpan City in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Turpan Museum is the second largest museum with the richest and largest collection in Xinjiang. It was built in 1990 with an area of 10 mu (about 2 acres), of which structures take up about 3,500 square meters (about 4,186 square yards). It holds over 5,000 fine cultural relics from the Paleolithic Age (about 3 million BC) to the Neoteric (1840-1919) and Modern Times (1919-1949).

Being on the route of the famous ‘Silk Road’, Turpan assembled traders and monks from western and eastern countries. Therefore, this place is left with abundant multi-cultural relics, which is also due to its special natural conditions: torrid, dry and rainless. To some degree, Turpan Museum is a compressed encyclopedia, from which we can get to know the society, politics, economy, military affairs, and cultural life of Turpan during the past dynasties. The exhibition area includes three major parts: the General History of the Turpan Area, the Ancient Mummy Exhibition, and the Large Rhinoceros Fossil Exhibition Hall.

General History of the Turpan Area

This exhibition hall is mainly to show selected cultural relics that have been unearthed, levied, picked and donated since the founding of the People’s Republic. There were human traces in this area as early as the Stone Age. It entered the Bronze Age about three thousand years ago. The Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) first annexed it to China’s territory in 60BC. About 400 years later, the Gaochang Prefecture and the Gaochang Kingdom were established here successively. It returned to the central government of China when the Tang Dynasty (618-907) united the nation. The ancient Uighur Empire was established in 840… Turpan’s history is created by people of different tribes and ethnic groups (including some from Central Asia), cultures and religions. The 900-square-meter (1,116-square-yard) exhibition hall means to represent panoramic picture of the region.

Giant Rhinoceros Fossil Exhibition

About 20 million years ago, the giant rhinoceros (Paraceratherium, also commonly known as Indricotherium or Paraceratherium), the largest land mammal ever known, lived in the area which was thought to be a sea, but dramatically to be a dessert now. It is said that it could eat about 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds) of leaves or grass every day. It is 5 meters (about 5 yards) high, and 9 meters (about 10 yards) long, with a weight of 30 tons (about 66,139 pounds). The fossil skeletons here are the most complete giant rhinoceros fossil ever excavated. Fossils of rhinoceros and other creatures in remote geologic ages are displayed with the aid of pictures, models, short films and videos, in order to give a vivid interpretation of the scene in millions of years ago.

Ancient Mummy Exhibition

This is the most mysterious and attractive part of the museum. The mummies discovered in the area are bestowed by local geography and climate, like being dried by the Flaming Mountain. Numerous mummies had been found in Turpan, which is the main source of mummies in the Xinjiang Regional Museum and other museums nationwide. There are nine well-preserved mummies and one skeleton on display, including two couples and a Shaman witch. The earliest one is the body 3,200 years away. Accessories include burial objects, mural paintings, replica of graves, silk paintings.

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