Qingzhou City Museum is a comprehensive museum. Its predecessor, Yidu County Museum, was built in 1959. The original site was rebuilt from the ancestral hall of Feng Pu, a scholar of Wenhua Palace during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. In 2008, it was rated as the first batch of “national first-class museums” and is the only county-level comprehensive museum among the first batch of 83 national first-class museums. In 2017, it formed the Qingzhou Ancient City Tourist Area with Yunmen Mountain and the Ancient City and was promoted to a national AAAAA-level tourist attraction.
The new Qingzhou City Museum opened on May 15, 2023, with a total construction area of 50,934 square meters. It was designed by Zhang Jinqiu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a disciple of Liang Sicheng. It adopts the style of the Han and Tang Dynasties, highlights the characteristics of “high platform, tower, and sloping roof” of traditional Chinese architecture, and uses modern design techniques for abstraction and simplicity. It is divided into six functional areas, including exhibition area, collection warehouse area, technical protection area, public service area, office area, and management equipment area. It has the functions of cultural relics protection, display and exhibition, scientific research, leisure and entertainment, etc., providing a good learning and visiting environment for domestic and foreign visitors to visit exhibitions, academic exchanges, scientific research, education and leisure.
Qingzhou Museum has a collection of more than 50,000 cultural relics of various types and more than 3,000 national precious cultural relics. The exhibition area of the new museum is divided into 8 exhibition halls, including Qingzhou History Exhibition Hall, Longxing Temple Buddha Statue Exhibition Hall, Youlinheng Palace Exhibition Hall, Xiangshan Han Tomb Pottery Figurines Exhibition Hall, Stone Carving Art Exhibition Hall, Ceramic Exhibition Hall, Painting and Calligraphy Exhibition Hall and Temporary Exchange Exhibition Hall. Through a large number of pictures, texts, and high-tech means such as sound, light and electricity, the audience can deeply understand the cultural value and historical connotation of the exhibits. Among them, the palace examination paper of Zhao Bingzhong in the 26th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty filled the gap in the court archives of the Ming Dynasty in my country and is the only copy at home and abroad; the “Yi Zisun” jade bi of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the jade figure of the Warring States Period are rare jade treasures; the painted pottery and pottery figurines unearthed from the burial pit of the Han Tomb in Xiangshan are the best preserved among the same period of similar cultural relics in my country. The most famous collection is the more than 400 Buddhist statues unearthed from the cellar of the Longxing Temple site in 1996, spanning 500 years from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty. This batch of statues has a large number, a full range of varieties, exquisite carvings, and well-preserved gold-plated paintings. The long span of time has attracted great attention at home and abroad. It has been rated as “the top ten archaeological discoveries in China in 1996” and “China’s 100 major archaeological discoveries in the 20th century”. It is called a masterpiece that rewrites the history of oriental art. It has held large-scale special exhibitions in famous museums at home and abroad many times, becoming a bridge for Qingzhou to the world. It is an outstanding representative of ancient Chinese sculpture art. Wherever it goes, it is amazing. Since it was opened to the public for free in 2009, Qingzhou Museum has achieved good social benefits. It has won the titles of National Popular Science Education Base, Excellent Base for Popular Science Informatization of National Popular Science Education Base in 2015, Key Discipline of Buddhist Archaeology and Buddhist Art in Shandong Province, Advanced Unit for Provincial Ancient Books Protection, Top Ten Provincial Museums, Provincial Service Brand, Provincial Patriotism Education Base, Provincial Youth Civilization Unit, Advanced Unit of Provincial National Defense Education Base, Qingzhou Work Station of Key Scientific Research Base of State Administration of Cultural Heritage for Protection of Painted Pottery Cultural Relics, Provincial Key Scientific Research Base for Protection of Painted Pottery Cultural Relics, and Provincial Key Protection Unit for Ancient Books. The Longxing Temple Buddhist Statue Exhibition won the “Excellent Award for the 10th (2011-2012) National Museum Top Ten Exhibitions and Exhibitions Selection”, and the Security Department was awarded the “Second Class Collective Merit” by the Provincial Public Security Department. On March 12, 2021, the “Public Cultural Service Standardization Pilot Project” of Qingzhou Museum was rated as the “National Seventh Batch of Social Management and Public Service Comprehensive Standardization Pilot Project” by the National Standardization Administration, and it is also the only unit in Weifang City that has been approved for this pilot project. In recent years, the number of visitors to Qingzhou City Museum has increased year by year, and it has played an increasingly important role in spreading Qingzhou’s history and culture.