Preserved arts reveal wisdom

Some calligraphy lovers quit their former jobs and come to look for work at the museum, just to be able to see the stone steles everyday

In Xi'an, Shaanxi province, the city that served as the capital for thirty dynasties in Chinese history, locals regard the Forest of Stele Museum as a source of their city's spiritual aura.

The museum was built by the central authority in the early Song Dynasty (960-1279) in a Confucian temple. It houses more than 11,000 pieces of cultural relics dating from the Han Dynasty (205 BC-AD 220) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), contributed by imperial courts since the Song Dynasty.