Gansu Provincial Museum

The bronze horse found in a Han tomb at Wuwei in 1969 stands about thirty-four centimetres high and is shown in full gallop with three legs in the air and the fourth touching down on a flying swallow, a solution to the problem of supporting a running figure that also reads as a statement about speed. It became the emblem of Chinese tourism and is the museum's centrepiece. Around it, the collections cover the Silk Road corridor that Gansu forms: painted Neolithic pottery from Majiayao, Han wooden documents and postal records, Buddhist sculpture, and dinosaur and mammoth fossils from the province.

What's there

• The Flying Horse - the Han bronze galloping on a swallow.
• The Majiayao pottery - painted Neolithic vessels from the upper Yellow River.
• The Silk Road gallery - Han documents, seals and trade material.
• The fossil hall - dinosaurs and mammoths found in Gansu.

When to go

Year-round; the museum closes on Mondays and free entry generally requires booking a slot in advance. Weekends and school holidays are busiest.

Things to know

Booking is required and can be awkward without a Chinese app. The Flying Horse is small, and visitors expecting a large sculpture are surprised. English labelling is partial.

Nearby

Bingling Temple lies west; the Yellow River runs through the city.

Key facts