Nanjing museum was originally set up in 1933, covering a space of 12.9 hectares. Due to warfare, only the construction of human culture hall was completed as planed. Now to the west of the hall, an archaized show hall has been constructed, having a floor space of 12,600 sq. m and consisting of treasure hall, bronze ware hall, porcelain ware hall, painting hall, jade hall, embroidery hall, pottery hall, lacquer ware hall, folklore hall, modern arts hall and calligraphy and painting hall of celebrities.

The museum has a collection of more than 420 thousand pieces, including about 2,000 rare and valued ones. Calligraphy and painting works from ancient dynasties collected by the museum exceed 30,000, including those valuable from the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) and the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 AD). Among them, Paleolithic stone wares, colored pottery wares, bronze wares of the West Zhou Dynasty (1027 or 1022 - 221 BC) and the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC), gold beast, jade dress sewn with silver thread, gold seal of a Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) prince and other articles are all treasures, worthy of studying and appreciating.

Note: A Mysterious Beast-Shaped Zun in Celadon: This mysterious beast-shaped zun (wine vessel) in celadon is from the Western Jin Dynasty (265 - 316). It was unearthed from the Tomb of Zhou Chu in Yixing City, Jiangsu Province, and is now in the Nanjing Museum. The zun is 27.9 cm high and has a mouth 13.2 cm in diameter. Its body is carved with a mysterious beast shaped like a toad. The beast has round eyes, a large nose, projecting teeth, and a wide-open mouth holding a pearl. Zhou Chu was from the Western Jin Dynasty. He was ill behaved during his childhood, and even as an adult, he was considered a troublemaker by the people in his hometown. Later, Zhou realized the error of his ways and devoted himself to doing good for the local people. Eventually, he was elected an official in the central government of the Western Jin Dynasty. The fierce beast on the Zun symbolizes the crudeness of Zhou Chu in his youth.