Today marks International Museum Day, a day celebrated worldwide to highlight the importance of museums in preserving history and culture, and disseminating knowledge to the public. Museums play a crucial role in showcasing different cultures, promoting mutual understanding and cooperation, and building respect for all cultures among people in the world.  

This year's theme for International Museum Day is “The Future of Museums: Recovery and Reimagination,” a theme inspired by the changes in the world caused by the pandemic. It encourages innovative solutions to transform museums into more resilient learning institutions in the future.

As the world celebrates International Museum Day, let’s explore Tsinghua's various museums and find out their contribution to the world and society in terms of cultural exchange, cooperation, and peace building.

Tsinghua University History Museum

Tsinghua University History Museum was built in April 2011. The museum displays the history and achievement of Tsinghua over a century, based on pictures and texts accompanied by precious archives and natural objects.

Pictures at the history museum show university management, the idea of literature, art education, and how scientific research was developed during this time. The history museum also displays Tsinghua’s contribution to China’s development.

Tsinghua University Art Museum

Art museums are considered the most important cultural institutions because they preserve history, display human creativity, and provide unique insights across cultures.

Tsinghua University Art Museum was built in 2016 and owns 23,079 art objects, including six significant categories in embroidery, furniture, painting and calligraphy, porcelain, bronzeware, and comprehensive artwork. The museum engages in exhibition curation, quality collection presentation, and academic activities. It also plays an essential role in spreading historical, humanistic, and artistic achievement as well as modern technological innovation.

Tsinghua University Science Museum

The preparations of Tsinghua University Science Museum were officially started in April 2018. It will be the first comprehensive science museum with a collection set up by a university in China. It showcases the combination of science and technological relics with high-tech.

Tsinghua University Science Museum displays the historical scientific discoveries and technological inventions with the extraordinary achievements of Tsinghua in modern science and technology.

There is so much to discover about museums at Tsinghua; those who have a passion to understand history, art, and science are welcome to visit the Tsinghua museums. The museums at Tsinghua are open to the public. They also offer virtual tours for you to complement your knowledge about history, art, and science.

Writer: Haroon Hayat
Editors: John Olbrich, Liu Shutian, Sangeet Sangroula, Guo Lili