Situated in Guangzhou, the Nanyue King’s Mausoleum Museum is devoted to the largest and oldest Han era tomb in the area of Lingnan, which also features the greatest number of funerary artefacts. Ranked amongst the 80 most renowned museums on the globe, it features ten exhibition halls and covers an area of 14,000 sq m.

The monarch who lay in state in the tomb is Zhao Mei, the second ruler of the Western Han Dynasty’s Nanyue State. Located 20 m beneath the ground, the mausoleum consists of 750 massive boulders featuring colourful murals. The heritage of the Nanyue culture of southern China may be clearly seen in the more than 1,000 artefacts such as cultural objects, terra cotta creations and bronze ware. However you will also see traces of other civilizations of China, such as the cultures of central China, the Chu of southern China, the Hun culture of the northern grasslands, the Bashu of southwest China and even non-Chinese elements.

The highlight of the mausoleum is without doubt an exquisite garment of silk and jade composed of no less than 2,291 individual pieces of the prized jade. The distinctive aspect of this garment is that the pieces of jade are interconnected with silken thread, a design which has not been replicated anywhere else in the world. Additionally the motif of the buttons on the front of the garment shows a unique design.

Other relics of note found here include three groups of bronze bells, bronze mirrors, bronze vessels as well as three golden seals. Visitors will also see the largest and oldest folding screen in China, along with two of the oldest existent bronze patterns used for the stamping of textiles.

Artefacts from overseas discovered in the mausoleum prove that Guangzhou was part of the ancient Silk Road. Found here were a silver box originating in west Asia, elephant trunks from Africa as well as frankincense and incense burners from the region of southeast Asia.

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Chandrishan Williams is a travel writer who writes under the pen name, Caleb Falcon. He specializes in writing content based on the many exciting world adventures that await intrepid travellers. Google+