Suzhou Museum West is due for its audience stress test on September 25 and 26, and its trial operation is scheduled to start next Wednesday (September 29).
During the trial operation, the new branch will open six days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (no admission after 4 p.m.), Tuesday to Sunday. For more information on opening during the holiday period, please follow the official notice.
Available Exhibitions
•Infinity: The Sequence from Known to Unknown
The exhibition is based on silk, one of the important totems in Suzhou. Up to 12 pieces (sets) of artworks by noted domestic modern artists will be on display.
•Ode to Gusu: Exhibition of Suzhou History
The first floor will be used as the exhibition area to showcase the development and changes in Suzhou’s history, politics, economy, culture and arts from Paleolithic period to around 1911. Up to 1,200 pieces/sets of cultural relics, including 150 major ones, will be displayed at the General History Exhibition Hall.
•Memories of Suzhou
Suzhou Handicrafts Exhibition Hall is situated on the second floor. Up to 900 pieces/sets of selected Suzhou handicrafts and 180 major ones, which date back to Song (960 – 1279 AD) and Yuan (1271 – 1368 AD) dynasties, will be on display.
•Rome: City and Empire
Rome: City and Empire, a one-year exhibition set to bring together 267 pieces/sets of the British Museum’s most engaging and beautiful Roman objects, will be held as the first of its international series.
The exhibition also marks the beginning of the four-year exhibition cooperation between Suzhou Museum and British Museum, and more brilliant serial exhibitions will take place in the future.
•Museum School
A special exploration and experience hall that plays the role of “museum school” is situated on Basement 1.
It will become the country’s first children’s museum set inside a local comprehensive museum and serve as the exclusive educational space for kids aged from 3 to 12 years old.
How to book
Suzhou Museum West introduces a real-name booking system, which allows the audience to book a ticket via online platforms (official website and WeChat Mini-program) starting from seven days ahead of their visits.
The booking system is in service from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day and there are two periods of time available for booking: 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Visitor Caps
September 25: Visitor caps for both periods are set at 2,500
September 26: Visitor caps for both periods are set at 5,000
Attention
If you don’t make reservations in advance and there are tickets left, you can book a visit for the day as well. To ensure smooth admission for visitors, Suzhou Museum West will stop the booking service at 3:40 p.m., 20 minutes before the time when admission stops.
During the trial operation, visitors who are eligible for preferential policies also need to make reservations via the online system first.
Each valid identity document can be used to make one reservation once a day. Each account can book visits for up to six persons a day; each visitor should enter his/her name and ID number truly and correctly. Visitors who filled in false information will not be admitted.
It’s advisable to take Suzhou Rail Transit Line 1 or 3 and get off at Shizishan Station.
