On June 29, 2021, located to the east of Nanhai God Temple, the relic of the Maritime Silk Road and a nation’s key cultural relic protection site, Guangzhou Maritime Museum was officially inaugurated to the public. With a floor space of 35,700 square meters and a floor area of 10,000 square meters, the museum is a professional institution of presentation, display and research on marine (maritime Silk Road) collections, and also the first maritime themed museum opened in Guangdong province. The new museum fills the gap of the thematic museum on the maritime Silk Road and the thematic exhibitions on maritime trade in Guangzhou during the Tang and Song dynasties.
Exhibitions was held along with its opening ceremony. The permanent exhibition Guangzhou and Maritime Silk Road during Tang and Song Dynasties tells a vivid story about the history of the Maritime Silk Road during that period from various aspects, including the sailing route nationwide and overseas, shipbuilding and navigation, port city, porcelain export, fragrant herbs import, worship of the Nanhai God, overseas trade system, spread of Buddhism through the marine route and exchanges between the Chinese and Arabians. The exhibition reproduces an impressive historical period which has witnessed the prosperity of the Guangzhou city with busy trade and cultural integration.
The thematic exhibition Civilization alongside Riverbank and the Sea displays nearly 200 artworks before the 9th century found around Amu Darya, Indus River, Mesopotamia, the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea, including stone carvings, Buddhist statues, bronzeware, glassware, pottery and gold and silver jewelry. The features of the civilization alongside the rivers and seas could be revealed through the exhibition, which therefore represents a specific era characterized by constant communication and mutual integration between Asia and Europe.
Source: Chinanews