CHINA - X'ian

Steles Forest - Beilin Museum

Forest of Stone Steles Museum is also called the Steles Forest, is a themed museum focusing on displays of stone steles, epigraphs and stone sculptures from past dynasties. Its construction is based on Xian Confucius Temple dating from 1087 during the North Song Dynasty (960 – 1127). The museum was built to preserve the Kaicheng Classics (a group of stone tablets) and the Filial Piety Classics. The collection has grown and now includes 11,000 relics, including three thousand stone steles or epigraphs that are housed in seven separate exhibition rooms. Among these many precious relics, there are 19 groups deemed to be national treasures that the visitor should not fail to see.