Full Day Qianling Mausoleum and Xianyang Museum

The drive from your Xi’an hotel in north-western direction to reach Xiangyang is a short one. Only 30 kilometres / 19 miles separate this fast-growing city in central China from this historical marvel, quite often overlooked when customers arrive in one of the largest cities of the Shaanxi Province.

Upon arrival in Xianyang, we head first to see the Qianling Mausoleum, a truly special one. It is the only tomb in the world that contains the remains of a royal couple of Emperor Gao Zong and his Empress Wu Zetian, the only female monarch in Chinese history. With the Liangshan Hill as the backdrop, this Tang Dynasty reminder, a replica of the ancient Chang’an city (now Xi’an), will be one of the highlights of the day.

After enjoying a local Chinese lunch at a local restaurant, we enter the Xianyang Museum. The permanent exhibition focusses mainly on artefacts and displaying the history of the emperors from the Han and the Qin Dynasty. The museum is divided into nine main exhibition halls with lots of information and finds on display about the numerous tombs and mausoleums in its vicinity. The construction of this centrally located museum into its current form started in 1962 and remains up until today one of China’s most famous national, medium-sized museums.