Three Gorges Museum

Chongqing Three Gorges Museum is an educational institution of public benefit. It is built to protect, do some research on and display the historical and cultural relics and the physical evidence of human environment in Chongqing and the Three Gorges area.

It is located right on the west of the Chongqing People’s Auditorium, which is one of the ten classical architectures in the twentieth century. Chongqing People’s Square with an area of 40,000 square meters is between them. They all together form the landmark of Chongqing. The outside of the museum is composed by arc-shaped walls and glass dome, symbolizing respectively the histories and cultures of the dam and the Three Gorges area. On left and right outer walls, there are both large-scale reliefs, which are based on totem of Ba people (the aborigines living in Chongqing) - white tiger, a kind of fish found only in the Three Gorges, a kind of tree from the religion of Ba people and the symbolization of the Chu culture – rosefinch.

In addition, a 1,000 meters long ecological passage and bronze statue of “the ship of Ba people” are built. The exhibition hall of the museum covers an area of 23,225 square meters. There are four main exhibition halls, namely, “the Splendid Three Gorges” showing the history, culture and spirit of this area, “Bayu in the Ancient Times” reflecting the origin of the history of Chongqing, “the Way to City” mirroring the changes of the city along with “the History of War of Resistance” showing the culture of war of resistance in Chongqing. There are six exhibition display themes including “painting and calligraphy”,  "porcelain”, "coin and sculpture art” of the past dynasties, “folk and customs of the southwestern nationalities”, as well as “the cultural relics donated by Li Chuli”. You can also feel the culture of this area by other high-tech ways. There is the 360°circular-screen movie reflecting the human landscapes around the Three Gorges and a half-panorama - "the Large-scale Bombing in Chongqing”. It is equipped with an international Academic Report Hall, a Practice Center for audience and three temporary exhibition halls. The museum has provided a good channel for people to know the culture of the Three Gorges.