Forest of Stone Steles Museum, Stele Forest Xian

Forest of Stone Steles Museum, Xian

Situated in Sanxue Street, downtown Xian, the Forest of Stone Steles Museum is a splendid treasury of Chinese art and history. It was originally built in 1078 for the preservation of the 'Kaicheng Stone Classics'. Hundreds of years later, there are almost 3,000 pieces of stone steles in the museum. Altogether six corridors, seven rooms and eight pavilions are used to display these invaluable treasures.

Many steles are very important to historical research. One of the steles, which was carved during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), describes the spread of a branch of Christianity in Chinese and Syriac. Other steles describe the intercourse between Chinese and Nepal, Japan, India and so on. Some steles also record important historic events such as peasants' insurgences and the aggressions of western countries. What's more, many steles in the museum are important records of ancient literatures. The 'Kaicheng Stone Classics', which took seven years to carve, consist of 114 steles with twelve kinds of classics. Roughly 650,252 characters on the steles are considered to be the best preserved of their kind in China. Stone tablets written by famous calligraphers such as Ouyang Xun, Wang Xizhi, Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan also can be found in the museum.

In a word, the Forest of Stone Steles Museum is indeed the best place to know something about Chinese culture and history.

Admission Fee:	CNY 75 (Mar. to Nov.) CNY 50 (Dec. to Feb.)
Opening Hours:	08:00 to 18:45 (Summer) 08:00 to 18:00 (Winter)
Recommended Time for a Visit:	Three hours
Bus Route:	Bus No. 14, 23, 40, 118, 208, 213, 214, 221, 222, 232, 302, 309, 402, 512, 710, 704, 800, Tourism Bus No. 6, Tourism Bus No. 4 (Through) or Wulong Special Line and get off at Wenchang Gate, and then walk to the museum