The Beijing Museum of Natural History

Image from the official website of the Beijing Museum of Natural History. 

The Beijing Natural History Museum was the first natural history museum in China after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

It is a large natural history museum focusing on specimen collection, research and education in the fields of paleontology, animals, plants and anthropology.

History

Work on the museum, which is located in the Chongwen District, started in 1950. In 1958, the Exhibition Building of the museum was completed with an exhibition space of 3,600 square meters.

Collection

More than 80,000 precious items are collected in the Museum and displayed in the Halls of Paleontology, Zoology, Botany and Mankind Evolution. Its spacious galleries contain some fine specimens of fossils including various invertebrates, mammals, early humans, reptiles, dinosaur skeletons and eggs excavated in China. It also contains a large collection of minerals, as well as a fantastic display of naturally carved and polished stones used in the traditional Chinese art of miniature rockery.

The Hall of Paleontology features fossil remains from the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras, forming a wordless chronicle of prehistoric life that flourished between 500 million and 1 million years ago. Among the exhibits there are a 22 meter Mamenxi dinosaur fossil which is 140 million years old, a flying Yi dinosaur and a swimming Yu dinosaur. The Hall of Zoology and the Hall of Botany display various species to show the long course of biological evolution. The Hall of the Origins of Mankind reveals how human beings stemmed from earlier life forms.

Address: No 126, Tianqiao ST, Beijing

Open hours: 8:30-17:00

            Closed on Mondays (except on national holidays)

E-mail: office@bmnh.org.cn

Ticket: Free