Address: 308 Linzi Boulevard, Linzi district, Zibo city, Shandong province
Opening hours: 9:00 -17:00 (entry until 16:30)
Closed Mondays (except for national holidays)
General admission: Free
Covering a total area of 152,000 square meters and constructed in 2015, the Qi Heritage Museum in East China’s Shandong province is actually composed of five museums, namely the Qi Culture Museum, the Football Museum, the Dongsun Warring States Tomb Museum, the Ancient Chariot Museum of China, and the Folk Museum Cluster.
Exterior of the Qi Culture Museum, a component of the Qi Heritage Museum in Zibo, Shangdong province [Photo/qiheritagemuseum.com]
The Qi Culture Museum showcases special cultural relics featuring works of art and relics from the intangible cultural heritage of the ancient State of Qi (1044-221BC), which ruled most of today’s Shandong province with its capital set in Linzi.
As a world-class football park with a high standard, the Football Museum epitomizes Chinese Cuju (a type of football game originating in ancient China) the cultural of sports, and world football history and constitutes a three-dimensional encyclopedia of football culture.
A burial article unearthed from the tomb of the King of Qi from the collection of the Qi Heritage Museum [Photo/qiheritagemuseum.com]
The Dongsun Warring States Tomb Museum was built based on the original site of the Warring States tomb discovered in Dongsun village in Linzi city. Although pillaged many times, the burial pits of chariots and horses was relatively well preserved upon excavation. It was preliminarily identified as a large tomb of a Qi State nobleman during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) and so was named the Dongsun Warring States Tomb.
Entrance of the Dongsun Warring States Tomb Museum [Photo/qiheritagemuseum.com]
In order to better display the burial system and folk customs of the aristocrats of the State of Qi during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BC), the local department of cultural heritage decided to excavate and clean up the tomb and build a museum to protect and display this original site.
Consisting of 16 folk art museums and an antique market, the Folk Museum Cluster is the largest public folk art museum complex in China open to the public.
The Qi Heritage Museum, together with the Taigong Botanical Garden, is a cultural complex where natural scenery and cultural landscapes complement each other. Meanwhile, the museum plays a leading role in promoting Qi culture and tourism in the surrounding area as it covers historical heritage sites and tourist attractions.
