1800What? Beijing Windows

Located in No. 16 Fuxingmenwai Street, the newly refurbished 1.23 billion yuan (US$180 million) Capital Museum opened to the public in 2005 after four years’ construction. The Capital Museum is a five-storey building allowing for a maximum of 13 concurrent exhibitions, which can be viewed in about 5 hours, and the new venue can accommodate 2,000 visitors daily. With a total floor space of 66,690 square meters, it is second only to China National Museum in terms of size.

Formerly housed in the Confucius Temple on Guozijian Road, the Capital museum was founded as early as 1981, but because of its inconvenient location within the ancient temple, it functioned primarily as a warehouse of relics.

There is no other place like the new Capital Museum of Beijing where people can see how life was in ancient times in Beijing.It houses more than 200,000 cultural relics, recording the 500,000-year human history of Beijing, the city’s 3,000-year history and its eight centuries as the capital of China.

The new museum also features a cultural and museum activity area for the public. Planned activities include pottery making, a presentation showing how relics are repaired and preserved, Chinese ink rubbing, and face-painting Peking Opera style.

It will eventually offer an English language city museum map and currently offers English-language museum brochures. Some information will be provided in Japanese. It also features other useful services such as a free cloak desk and a well-stocked museum shop.

Travel Information:
Opening hours: 09:00 AM to 05:00 PM
Address: 16 Fuxingmenwai Dajie, Xicheng District, Beijing
Information: 8610-6337 0491 or 8610-6337 0492
Price: The museum now has free entry. You must call 3 to 4 days in advance to reserve a ticket.
Website: www.capitalmuseum.org.cn/en

Detailed location of exhibition halls in the Museum