Maritime Silk Route Museum, Maritime history museum in Hailing Island, China
The Maritime Silk Route Museum is a museum on Hailing Island, in Guangdong province, China, built around five interconnected elliptical halls. The collection covers ceramics, jewelry, and metal goods recovered from ancient sea trade routes.
The museum opened in 2009 and was built largely to house the Nanhai 1, a merchant ship from the Southern Song Dynasty that sank near Hailing Island in the 12th century. The wreck was first found in the 1980s and later raised so it could be studied and displayed on land.
The name Nanhai 1 means South Sea 1 in Chinese, a reference to where the ship was found. Inside the museum, visitors can watch ongoing excavation work through the glass walls of the tank where the wreck is kept.
The museum sits on Hailing Island and is most easily reached from Yangjiang by bus or taxi. Visiting on a weekday tends to be quieter, as weekends attract more visitors, especially around the main display hall.
The Nanhai 1 was not excavated before being moved: the entire wreck was lifted together with the surrounding sediment and placed in a purpose-built water tank. This means thousands of objects are thought to still be buried inside the ship, waiting to be uncovered.
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