As of the end of 2023, the number of museums in Shanghai has reached 165, leading the nation in both quantity and variety, becoming a uniquely charming cultural landscape.
The 13 museums introduced today have been carefully selected by the editor for you. If you’re interested, keep reading!
Shanghai Postal Museum
Looking north from the Sichuan Road Bridge, where the Suzhou River flows slowly, the first building you see is the horseshoe-shaped Shanghai Postal Building, which is currently the largest and earliest postal landmark building still in use in China.
The exterior of the building adopts a Spanish architectural style, with a white main tone, many exquisite carvings and patterns paired with dark wooden window frames and stone decorations, giving it an antique and elegant appearance.
The interior design is full of artistic atmosphere, with exquisite decorations and details in the exhibition halls, corridors, and staircases. The second-floor business hall covers an area of 1,200 square meters and is spacious, bright, and magnificent, known as the “Far East’s First Hall”.
The Postal Museum is located on the first and second floors of the building, displaying various postal relics and cultural heritage, including stamps, mailboxes, mail bags, mail trucks, mail processing equipment, and more.
Ticket Price: Free
Opening Hours: Every Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, 09:00-16:30 (last entry at 16:00)
Address: 395 Tiandong Road, North Bund Street, Hongkou District (near Sichuan North Road)
Booking Method: Make a reservation through the “Shanghai Post” WeChat official account
Shanghai History Museum
To fully understand Shanghai, the Shanghai History Museum is undoubtedly the best shortcut. The exhibition starts from Shanghai’s civilization 6,000 years ago and spans up to the liberation of Shanghai in 1949, covering a period of 6,000 years.
The venue is the former Shanghai Race Club Building, rebuilt in 1934, and is divided into east and west buildings and an open courtyard. The east building mainly houses the basic exhibits, which are general history displays consisting of “Ancient Shanghai” and “Modern Shanghai”.
The first floor has an “Introduction Hall” and a special exhibition hall; the second floor has the History Museum Corridor and the “Ancient Shanghai” hall, while the third and fourth floors are the Modern Shanghai Hall and the Epilogue Hall.
The total number of collections is about 110,000 pieces, divided into fifteen categories: calligraphy and painting, metals, ceramics, crafts, badges, documents, printing, textiles, stone carvings, coins, photos, paper-cuts, stamps, records, etc.
Ticket Price: Free
Opening Hours: 09:00-17:00 (last entry at 16:00) Closed every Monday (except for national holidays)
Address: 325 Nanjing West Road, Huangpu District
Booking Method: Individual visitors do not need to make a reservation; entry is granted upon ID verification
Shanghai Museum
The Shanghai Museum is a large museum of ancient Chinese art, focusing on the collection, research, exhibition, and education of ancient Chinese artworks. It has a collection of nearly 1.02 million cultural relics, of which more than 140,000 are precious.
It currently has ten art exhibition halls, four cultural relic donation rooms, and three special exhibition halls, striving to reflect the complete development history of various art categories. The completeness of the system, the richness of the collections, and the exquisiteness of the quality are renowned both at home and abroad.
Ticket Price: Free
Opening Hours: 09:00-17:00 (last entry at 16:00) Closed every Monday (except for national holidays)
Address: 201 People’s Avenue, Huangpu District
Booking Method: Shanghai Museum official website, Shanghai Museum official WeChat account
World Expo Museum
The exterior public display space of the World Expo Museum consists of a “historical valley” made of stone and copper-aluminum composite panel curtain walls, reflecting the “eternity” of time.
The multifunctional special exhibition hall has a transparent and ascending glass body in the middle, the “Celebration Cloud”, which reflects the “moment” of the future. The two are organically combined to form a rich indoor and outdoor interactive space, integrating the memory of the World Expo with urban life.
The museum will display models of the Crystal Palace from the 1851 London World Expo, the Atomium from the 1958 Brussels World Expo, and the Space Needle from the 1962 Seattle World Expo… The museum also focuses on showcasing the treasures donated during the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, instantly evoking memories.
Ticket Price: Free
Opening Hours: 09:00-17:00 (last entry at 16:15) Closed every Monday (except for national holidays)
Address: 818 Mengzi Road, Huangpu District
Booking Method: Free tickets are available on-site, no reservation required
Shanghai Sports Museum
The Shanghai Sports Museum is located on the top three floors of the Sports Building, which was originally named the Western YMCA Building. The building’s façade consists of protruding and recessed strips and diamond patterns, with Roman-style arched doors and windows and classical columns. The interior and exterior decorations are luxurious, making it an outstanding representative of modern eclectic-style architecture.
The museum’s exhibition area covers 1,813 square meters and consists of four main exhibition halls: the Boat of History, the Light of the Olympics, the City of Vitality, and the Window of the Future. It includes more than 1,200 exhibits and over 500 historical photographs. Together with the unexposed parts, the total number of collections in the museum exceeds 4,000 pieces.
Additionally, the museum features a themed temporary exhibition area, a VR experience zone, a multi-dimensional space show, and various uniquely creative multimedia installations, providing a more vivid understanding of Shanghai’s sports culture through diverse experiences.
Ticket Price: Free
Opening Hours: Morning session 09:30-11:30 (last entry at 11:00) Afternoon session 14:00-16:30 (last entry at 16:00) Closed every Monday, except for public holidays
Address: 2nd Floor, Sports Building, 150 Nanjing West Road (near the International Hotel)
Booking Method: Make a reservation through the “Shanghai Sports” government WeChat account
Shanghai Architectural Model Museum
The Architectural Model Museum is China’s first model museum, designed by the famous architect Yu Ting. It is known as the most difficult museum to book in Shanghai, open only four days a week, requiring a reservation one month in advance.
The entire venue has a construction area of over 2,000 square meters. The pure white building, composed of nearly 6,000 steel tubes, divides the space into two levels, offering a unique visual experience from every position and angle, both stunning and impressive.
The numerous master model works, numbering up to a hundred, are dazzling and breathtaking.
The exhibition hall also features three hidden check-in spots in red, yellow, and blue, adorning this white space, waiting for you to unlock them.
Ticket Price: Free
Opening Hours: Wednesday – Friday 14:30-15:30 (last entry at 15:00) Saturday 14:30 – 17:00 (last entry at 16:30) Closed every Monday, Tuesday, Sunday, and public holidays
Address: 9F, Fengyu Building, 191 Jiangchang 3rd Road, Jing’an District
Booking Method: Make a reservation through the official WeChat account “Architectural Model Museum”
Shanghai Meteorological Museum
Located in the bustling downtown area of Xujiahui, Shanghai, adjacent to the Xujiahui Catholic Church, a three-story brick and wood structure stands quietly amidst the surrounding skyscrapers—this is the Shanghai Meteorological Museum.
The museum, over 140 years old, is housed in a building with a century-old history, and the treasured objects inside are also of considerable age. There’s a self-recording barometer from 1900, a “museum treasure” that may be one of only five in the world—a vertical barometer from 1850, and postcards sent to the Xujiahui Observatory from research institutions around the world in the early 20th century… Each collection is precious and exquisite, full of stories.
Ticket Price: Free
Opening Hours: 09:30-11:00 (last entry at 10:00) Closed every Monday, except for public holidays
Address: 166 Puxi Road, Xuhui District (near Ziyang Road)
Booking Method: Make a reservation through the official WeChat account “Shanghai Meteorological Museum”
Symphony Music Museum
Located at No. 3 Baoqing Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, the Shanghai Symphony Music Museum was originally the residence of Zhou Zongliang, the dye magnate of Shanghai. It is the country’s first music museum themed around symphony music.
The museum exhibits more than 300 precious documents and physical exhibits, including manuscripts, scores, instruments, records, books, letters, program lists, and other rich content.
Ticket Price: Free
Opening Hours: Every Tuesday – Saturday 09:00-16:30 (last entry at 16:00) Closed every Sunday and Monday
Address: No. 3 Baoqing Road, Xuhui District
Booking Method: Make a reservation through the official WeChat account “Dichan Baoqing”
China Securities Museum
The China Securities Museum, the first securities museum in the country, is located in the Shanghai Pujiang Hotel (15 Huangpu Road, Hongkou District). The collections mainly focus on stocks, bonds, and fund market-related items, as well as banking, insurance, futures, derivatives, and more, comprehensively restoring the precious history of the development of China’s securities and futures markets.
Three classic check-in points are the Peacock Hall, the World and “Belt and Road” Exchange Culture Exhibition in the Richard Hall, and the Celebrity Room.
Ticket Price: Free
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 09:30-16:00 Closed on Mondays and public holidays
Address: 15 Huangpu Road, Hongkou District
Booking Platform: China Securities Museum official WeChat account
Fengxian District Museum
Designed by Japanese new generation architect Sousuke Fujimoto, the Fengxian Museum is divided into buildings A, B, and C, consisting of one underground floor and three above-ground floors. The three buildings are not entirely connected but are linked layer by layer through the public green space on the roof, the circular walkway, the 2nd-floor connecting corridor, and the 1st-floor landscape water system.
There are two permanent exhibition halls—the Fengxian History Exhibition Hall and the Sea Embankment Culture Hall, as well as two temporary exhibition halls that host exquisite exhibitions throughout the year.
Ticket Price: Free
Opening Hours: Monday – Sunday 09:00-16:30 (last entry at 16:00)
Address: 333 Hupan Road, Nanqiao Town, Fengxian District
Booking Method: Search for “Fengxian Museum” in Alipay to make a reservation
Yuan Dynasty Sluice Site Museum
Shanghai’s first site museum is the largest Yuan Dynasty water conservancy project site in China to date. It is also the largest-scale, best-constructed, and most well-preserved Yuan Dynasty sluice excavated in the country, with a history of over 700 years. It was named one of the “Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries in China in 2006.”
The museum showcases this unique cultural heritage from multiple angles and in all aspects, including the discovery process of the sluice, its historical background, construction process, structure, craftsmanship, and functions.
Ticket Price: Free
Opening Hours: Every Tuesday – Sunday 09:00-16:30 (last entry at 16:00) Closed every Monday (except public holidays)
Address: 619 Yanchang West Road, Putuo District
Booking Platform: Meituan
Shanghai Fire Museum
The three-story Fire Museum, deeply loved by children, has a navigation and display area on the first floor, a science education hall on the second floor, and a history exhibition hall on the third floor. The steam fire engine (1:1 restoration) and the wooden mechanical ladder truck on display in the hall both have a history of over a century.
The science education hall on the second floor features high-tech science display spaces, including a 4D dynamic cinema, a virtual escape experience space, and an interactive virtual fire laboratory.
The history exhibition hall on the third floor consists of 10 exhibition areas, housing over 20,000 collections, with about 1,200 exhibits and materials on display. These include many modern Shanghai firefighting cultural relics of significant historical value, such as early personal firefighting equipment, fire trucks, and automated firefighting devices.
Ticket Price: Free
Opening Hours: Every Tuesday – Sunday 09:00-11:30 (last entry at 11:00) 14:00-16:30 (last entry at 16:00) Closed every Monday
Address: 229 West Zhongshan Road, Changning District
Booking Platform: “Shanghai Fire” WeChat public account
Shanghai Textile Museum
The Shanghai Textile Museum is located at the former site of the Shanghai Shenxin Textile Ninth Factory on the south bank of Suzhou Creek, north of Aomen Road, east of Changhua Road, and northwest of Changshou Road Bridge. It has an outdoor exhibition area of 1,500 square meters and an indoor exhibition area of 4,480 square meters.
The majestic preface hall, the profound history hall, the time-and-space-connected selection hall, the interactive science hall, and the pleasing Peking and Kun Opera costume hall use objects, materials, scenes, text and pictures, models, multimedia, and more to interpret the more than 6,000-year industrial history and culture of Shanghai textiles.
Ticket Price: Free
Opening Hours: Tuesday – Sunday 09:30-16:00 Closed every Monday
Address: 150 Aomen Road, Putuo District
Booking Phone: 021-62996969-101 (make a reservation one week in advance)
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