Weiyang Palace in Chang'an City of the Western Han Dynasty National Archaeological Site Park

Weiyang Palace in Chang'an City of the Western Han Dynasty National Archaeological Site Park
汉长安城未央宫国家考古遗址公园

Address:Hancheng village, Weiyang district, Xi’an city, Shaanxi province

The site of Weiyang Palace in Chang'an City is the site of the imperial palace complex of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), and is located in the northwest suburb of Xi'an city, Shaanxi province.

Weiyang Palace was built around 200 BC, and as the most important palace in Chang’an and the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, it was the power center of the Western Han Empire. It was also the place where Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty(r. 140-87 BC) sent Zhang Qian for the expedition to the Western Regions, and the east most starting point of the Silk Road.The palace covers an area of 4.8 square kilometers, approximately six times the size of the Palace Museum in Beijing. Its architectural dimensions and scale established the basic structure for later Chinese imperial palaces for the next 2,000 years.

On June 22, 2014, the site of Weiyang Palace was successfully added to UNESCO's World Heritage List as one of the sites along the Silk Road: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor, which was jointly applied for by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

The Site of Weiyang Palace in Chang'an City of the Western Han Dynasty National Archaeological Site Park will be completed and opened on August 31, 2021.In addition to the site of Weiyang Palace, the park will include conventional and agricultural landscaping, renewed walkways and supporting facilities, as well as high-tech exhibitions that include AR and VR.