HKPM to display 120 pieces of Sanxingdui relics in a new exhibition next month
Local | 23 Aug 2023 1:58 pm
The Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM) will launch a new exhibition about the latest archaeological discoveries at Sanxingdui with the Sichuan Provincial Museums and Cultural Institutions.
The special exhibition “Gazing at Sanxingdui: New Archaeological Discoveries in Sichuan” will be on display from September 27 and last over three months. It will showcase 120 pieces of precious bronze, jade, gold, and pottery artifacts dated to 2,600 to 4,500 years ago.
Nearly half of the relics to be displayed were unearthed in the most recent excavations at the Sanxingdui archaeological site between 2020 and 2022, and most of them will be presented for the first time outside Sichuan.
There are 23 grade-one national treasures among the 120 artifacts, including a bronze head with gold mask, a mask with protruding pupils, a figure with an animal headdress unearthed in 1986.
The excavations at Sanxingdui shed new light on the highly developed Bronze Age civilization in the upper Yangtze River region and exchanges between ancient Sichuan and its surrounding areas, revealing the origin and early development of Chinese culture and its “diversity in unity” developmental pattern.
The four thematic sections of the exhibition present the art, urban life, belief systems, and origins and legacy of the ancient Shu civilization while exploring achievements in art and technology across the Chengdu Plain.
Tickets for the exhibition will be available from September 1 at 10 am, priced at HK$150 for adults and half-price for visitors eligible for concessions.
HKPM will remain open on October 3 (Tue), a normal museum closure day, to cope with the anticipated high visitor flow during the National Day Golden Week Holidays.
In addition, the special exhibition “Radiance: Ancient Gold from the Hong Kong Palace Museum Collection and the Mengdiexuan Collection” currently on display at Gallery 9 will be extended to October 3 to welcome visitors during the Golden Week.
