The Paper has learned that after a year of construction, the Kuche Museum in Xinjiang is scheduled to open in early May this year. As the first comprehensive museum in China with Kuche culture as its core, the museum will set up exhibition halls for Kuche history and culture, Kuche ancient city, and Kuche Buddhist culture and art, etc., and will exhibit representative collections such as the Tang Dynasty stone-carved "Hua Jixiang" Buddha, Kuche documents, silver-decorated coral bead veils, painted clay donor heads, molded gray pottery lamps, and fragments of the Thousand Buddhas mural.

The rendering of Kuche City Qiuci Museum. Photo courtesy of Qiuci Museum

According to local media reports in Xinjiang, the Kuqa City Qiuci Museum, which has been under construction for a year, has now entered the display and exhibition stage. It is currently undergoing exterior and interior decoration work and is scheduled to officially open in early May.

Feng Wei, deputy director of Kuqa Qiuci Museum, said that the current working team is reviewing the exhibition outline and formal design draft, and conducting on-site measurements and verifications on key links such as exhibition layout, display cabinet positioning, and digital equipment installation area to ensure that the design plan is accurately matched with the actual construction.

The museum is located on Youyi Road in Kuqa City, adjacent to the Qiuci Wei and Jin Dynasty Tomb Site Museum. As the first comprehensive museum in China with Qiuci culture as its core, it has a construction area of 16,201 square meters. The main building has three floors, mainly including Qiuci History and Culture Exhibition Hall, Qiuci Ancient City Special Exhibition Hall, Qiuci Buddhist Culture and Art Special Exhibition Hall and two temporary exhibition halls.

Recently, the new building of Kuche City Qiuci Museum has entered the exhibition stage. Photo courtesy of Qiuci Museum

The museum plans to display 700 pieces (sets) of cultural relics, including pottery, stoneware, bronzeware, boneware, jadeware, etc. Among them, there are 96 pieces (sets) of national first, second and third level precious cultural relics, including Tang stone carving "Hua Jixiang" Buddha, Qiuci documents, silver coral bead veil, painted clay donor head, molded gray pottery lamp, fragments of Thousand Buddha murals and other representative collections.

The special exhibition hall of the Ancient City of Qiuci plans to use the three major sections of "Searching for the City", "Entering the City" and "Reading the City" and combine digital technology with virtual sandbox to guide the audience to fully experience the historical features of the Ancient City of Qiuci and its brilliant achievements during the Han and Tang Dynasties, and systematically display the city’s important position in the formation and development of the Chinese nation.

Ruins of the Ancient City of Qiuci Photographed by Ma Qianni

The ancient city of Qiuci is located in Pilang Village, about two kilometers west of Kuche County, Xinjiang. The circumference of the ancient city is nearly 8,000 meters, with a north wall of 2,000 meters, a south wall of 1,806 meters, an east wall of 1,646 meters, and a west wall of about 2,200 meters. Except for the east, south, and north walls, which are still recognizable, the west wall has disappeared. The entire city is an irregular square, with a wall about 2 to 7 meters high, built of rammed earth, and a battlement every 40 meters or so. In 1985, the famous Chinese archaeologist Huang Wenbi conducted excavations in the ancient city of Qiuci, and unearthed cultural relics including stone tools, bone tools, painted pottery fragments, bronze pieces, Han Wuzhu coins, Qiuci small coins, Kaiyuan Tongbao coins, etc.

The rendering of Kuche City Qiuci Museum. Photo courtesy of Qiuci Museum

The Kucha Buddhist Culture and Art Exhibition Hall focuses on the Kucha Grottoes, Buddhist temple ruins, monks' life and other sections, and uses digital interactive facilities to present the unique charm of Kucha Buddhist art to the audience and vividly tell the stories of historical figures such as Kumarajiva.

Kizil Grottoes, Kumarajiva Square

Qiuci Grottoes refer to the Buddhist grottoes left in the ancient Qiuci Kingdom. The more concentrated grottoes include Kizil, Kumtura, Senmusem, Kizilgaha, Tohulaqaiken, Taitaier, Wenbash, Mazabakh, Aai Grottoes, etc. There are more than 600 caves preserved in total, and the murals cover nearly 10,000 square meters. As of June 2006, all the above nine grottoes were announced by the State Council as national key cultural relics protection units, among which Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves and Kumtura Grottoes were listed as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units in 1961. Qiuci Grottoes integrate Indian, Greek, Roman, Persian and Central Plains cultures, and have strong local characteristics.

Kizil Caves Cave 14: Horse King rescues merchant from sea

Kuche was formerly known as Qiuci. As an important town on the ancient Silk Road, it has maintained close ties with the Central Plains regime since the Han Dynasty and was a political, economic and cultural node of the central government in the Western Regions during the Han and Tang Dynasties. Its diverse and integrated cultural heritage has not only become a model of ancient Chinese art, but also deeply confirmed the historical context of the cultural and spiritual connection between the Western Regions and the Central Plains.

The rendering of Kuche City Qiuci Museum. Photo courtesy of Qiuci Museum

"The purpose of building the Qiuci Museum is to create an important window for Kuche's history and culture, systematically display the historical evolution, cultural heritage and artistic achievements of the Qiuci area, promote the in-depth integration of culture and tourism, enhance the city's cultural soft power, and provide the public with a professional platform to understand the Qiuci civilization." Feng Wei said.

(Some of the pictures and texts in this article are from Xinjiang Daily and China Daily)