A camel figurine, from AD 618 – 907, is displayed at Xian's Tang West Market Museum
A bronze figure, from AD 618 – 907, on display at Xian's Tang West Market Museum
Pastel Heavenly King, dating to AD 618 – 907, as displayed at Xian's Tang West Market Museum
The spacious atrium of Xian's Tang West Market Museum
1300 years ago in the city of Xian, the Tang West Market was where you could find the biggest trade center on the planet, dolling out the spices, wares and silks. This was the focal business point from which the famed Silk Road sprung out. In the last few years, the city of Xian has (in a way) returned the area to its roots. Where sellers once hawked silks, they now sell 100% cotton tees from H&M.
The shopping area again serves the monied public. But there's also a more serious nod to history in the Tang West Market Museum.
The Museum is a focal point of this area where the market once bustled. Ironically, it is the one building in the area which architecturally makes no nod to the past: it is unabashedly modern, eschewing the faux traditional esthetic of the surrounding shopping centers and hotel.
Within is a spacious atrium where visitors can precariously walk over glass panes that hover over the market's original excavated drainage canal ruins. On the second and third floors the museum has several exhibits which detail the history of the market and offer a decent collection of interesting artifacts, coins and oddities extracted from the site, as well as additions from private collectors. To think of this museum as a study of shopping would be to completely miss its point. It's a study of everything manifested within history and culture.
Source: CRM
from China Travel & Tourism News http://ift.tt/1iB6EFm
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