Xi'an: City Walls, Museums and Cultural History

Explore Xi'an through different chapters of its history: from the city wall and historic palaces to museums, religious buildings and archaeological collections. When planning a trip, you can first consider which of these topics interest you most. The city offers many different points of connection, and its history cannot be reduced to a single era or attraction.

City History in Walls and Towers

Xi'an's city wall was built more than 600 years ago as a military defense system. Its foundations date back to a structure from the Sui and Tang dynasties (581–907). The complex stretches for 13.74 kilometers. Visitors can walk along the city wall or through the surrounding scenic area. At this landmark, its long history sits alongside the opportunity to explore the structure on foot.

The historic towers also tell of different functions. The Bell Tower was built in 1384 and served as an emergency alarm and timekeeper. The Drum Tower was built four years earlier and was rebuilt twice during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). Another historic complex is Daming Palace: it was the palace of the Tang dynasty, where 17 of the 21 Tang emperors handled political affairs. According to experts, Weiyang Palace was regarded as the political center and national symbol of the Western Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 24).

Museums Spanning Different Periods

The Shaanxi History Museum has 370,000 exhibits. They illustrate a period spanning more than one million years up to around 1840. Three permanent exhibition halls organize history by era: from prehistoric times, through the period from the Zhou to the Tang dynasty, to later history up to 1911. The Tang Mural Gallery, by contrast, focuses on a much narrower subject. It displays 600 murals from more than 20 Tang dynasty aristocratic tombs.

Xi'an Museum is located in the southern part of the city, below the Small Wild Goose Pagoda. Its exhibits combine virtual flipbook displays, digital holographic presentations and interactive displays. The Shaanxi Archaeology Museum in Xi'an offers another perspective through its collections: it displays more than 5,200 cultural artifacts recovered during archaeological excavations in Shaanxi Province. The Xi'an Guanzhong Folk Art Museum preserves more than 40,000 ethnographic relics dating from the Western Zhou dynasty, approximately from the 11th century to 771 BC.

Religious and Architectural Traces

The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor. It is also associated with a traditional account that is explicitly presented as unconfirmed: Xuanzang, a Buddhist monk, is believed to have translated the Sanskrit scriptures he brought from India there. Xingjiao Temple houses more than 10,000 volumes of Buddhist scriptures; stone tablets in the temple bear the complete text of the Diamond Sutra.

Another architectural feature is the Great Mosque of Xi'an. It is designed in the style of a traditional Chinese garden and is described as the only mosque of its kind in the world. Most of its surviving buildings date from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). This means that different cultural themes can be part of your trip planning: Buddhist traditions, garden architecture and the history of religious buildings.

More Places and Experiences

Near Xi'an is the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, 35 kilometers northeast of the city. It includes almost 200 subsidiary structures containing life-size terracotta soldiers and horses, as well as bronze chariots and weapons. At the nearby Museum of the Mausoleum Site of Emperor Qin Shihuang, the Museum of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses is divided into Pits 1, 2 and 3; it displays more than 7,000 clay figures of soldiers and horses, as well as chariots and weapons. Nearby Huaqing Palace is known for its hot spring and includes the Museum of the Imperial Tang Hot Spring Site.

There are also other ways to explore cultural history within the city. Today's Tang Paradise is a large-scale cultural theme park modeled on an imperial garden and built on the site of a former imperial garden. It is divided into 14 cultural theme areas. The Muslim Quarter, in turn, comprises several food streets with a Muslim cultural atmosphere, restaurants and food stalls.

Choosing a focus can help you tailor your trip plans to what interests you about Xi'an.

Discover more destinations: Tongchuan, Yangquan, Ankang, Lvliang, Changzhi, Datong, Yulin, Hanzhong.

For the main travel overview: Shaanxi.