Museums
Nanyang City Museum
Updated: Mar 12, 2025
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Nanyang City Museum
南阳市博物院
Address: No 369 DingshengDadao, Yuancheng district, Nanyang, Henan province
Opening hours:
Summer: 9 am - 5:30 pm (Last entry 4:30 pm)
Winter: 9 am - 5 pm (Last entry 4 pm)
Closed Mondays (except for national holidays)
General admission: Free admission with valid ID card
Tel: (+86 377) 60163696
Originally established in 1959 at Wolonggang, the former residence of Zhuge Liang (181-234), the Nanyang City Museum merged with the Museum of Nanyang Fuya and the Zhang Heng Museum in 2022. This consolidation created a new regional museum of history and art, housed in a newly constructed building.
The museum, with a 46,000-square-meter built-up area, consists of five floors. The design of the new building draws inspiration from the Chinese dragon pattern on pictorial bricks and stones from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) that depict scenes from daily life, mythology, or agricultural production.
It holds over 11,600 cultural relics, ranging from bronzes and painted pottery, to gold, silver, jade, and ceramics. Numerous artifacts from the Han Dynasty are preserved, with a notable collection of over 200 Han Dynasty bronze mirrors.
The museum runs five regular exhibitions, with over 5,000 artifacts on display. Nanyang’s rich history and culture are showcased through the exquisite jade, bronzes, and potteries, highlighting its role as a vibrant cradle of Chinese civilization, a testament to the prosperity of ancient Chu culture and Han culture, and a dynamic crossroads where China’s northern and southern cultures seamlessly blend.
One of these permanent exhibitions focuses on pottery dogs with diverse types excavated from Han Dynasty tombs, which are acclaimed as one of the three treasures in Nanyang.
During the Han Dynasty, keeping dogs had been a fashion among high-ranking officials and the nobility in Nanyang, one of the most prosperous cities around the nation. They believed that dogs could ward off evil, bring blessings and protect the tomb owners for a peaceful afterlife. Consequently, pottery dogs were included as grave goods, becoming one of the distinctive burial items in Han tombs in this region.
