May 19! The Shijiahe Ruins Museum Will Officially Open to the Public

On May 11, the press conference for the 2026 "May 18 International Museum Day" Hubei Main Venue and the opening ceremony of the Shijiahe Ruins Museum was successfully held in Tianmen. The conference confirmed that the Hubei Main Venue event and the opening ceremony of the Shijiahe Ruins Museum will be held simultaneously in Tianmen on May 18. With the theme of "Let the World Know Shijiahe," the event invites everyone to a rendezvous with a thousand-year-old civilization. The highly anticipated Shijiahe Ruins Museum will officially open to the public on May 19.

The Shijiahe Ruins are located north of Shijiahe Town, Tianmen City, covering a total area of approximately 8 square kilometers. Dating from about 6,000 to 4,000 years ago, they represent the largest in distribution area, highest in rank, longest in duration, and best preserved Neolithic large-scale urban settlement discovered so far in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in China. In December 2023, the National Cultural Heritage Administration released the latest progress of the Chinese Civilization Origins Project, classifying the Shijiahe Ruins as belonging to the second stage of the Ancient Kingdom era, making them a key evidence site for China's 5,000-year civilization. The Shijiahe Ruins and the Shijiahe Culture named after them are the origin of Chu Culture, representing the highest level of prehistoric cultural development in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and occupying a very important position in the origin and development history of the Chinese national civilization.

The Shijiahe Ruins Museum has an exhibition area of 6,100 square meters, divided into six exhibition spaces: the Prologue Hall, Ruins Through Time, The Grand Ancient City, The Center of Shamanistic Worship, The Grandeur of the Ancient Kingdom, and The Archaeological Journey of Shijiahe Ruins. Employing a clever fusion of modern technological means and cultural relic artifacts, the museum highlights various exquisite artifacts unearthed from the Shijiahe Ruins, presenting a panoramic view of the archaeological achievements and cultural connotations of the site.

With the theme of "Let the World Know Shijiahe," this event will feature the 2026 International Museum Day Hubei Main Venue Opening Ceremony and the Shijiahe Ruins Museum Opening Series Activities, a cultural and creative products and exhibition review, two themed academic symposiums, a docent training program, and study tour group visits.

The featured thematic exhibition, "Light of the Yangtze, Source of Civilization," will comprehensively present the prehistoric urban civilization and systematically showcase the archaeological research results of the Shijiahe Ruins. Meanwhile, multi-subject academic symposiums will gather authoritative experts from the domestic cultural heritage and museum field to conduct in-depth discussions on the important position of Shijiahe Culture within the pattern of pluralistic integration of the Chinese civilization.

The nation's first digital archaeology live-action drama and Hubei's first immersive walk-through live-action drama, "Seeing Shijiahe," is set to premiere, vividly enacting the epic of Shijiahe's ancient civilization. Tianmen will also launch immersive study tour experience programs such as pottery making and simulated archaeology, allowing the public to touch prehistoric civilization up close and enriching the cultural heritage study tour ecosystem.