Helv museum

Helv is an old capital city that sits in the village of Helv, on Mashan St, alongside Taihu Lake in the western part of Wuxi. It dates back to the first year of Helv’s reign in the sixth year of Jing emperor of the Zhou, in 514 BC, giving it a more than 2,500–year history. In March 2013, the site became a national Historical and Cultural Site with State protection, and, in December, was declared a National Archaeological Park by the State Cultural Heritage Administration.

A museum at the site, on 6.3 hectares of land, which cost 300 million yuan to build and took three years, opened to the public in 2012. It sits alongside Yuebai Bay, near Mashan Isle, at the center of the Helv City Park and will be a landmark project of Wu culture and a key archaeological research site.

The museum has a graceful design and resembles a phoenix, suggesting that it is a new lease on life, with a design concept of fitting the building to the mountain. It also has a wonderful layout, with the bulk of the architecture fitting into a quarry in the mountain from the 1980s to blend into the mountain itself, with different views from different terraces, with many functions.

It offers relic displays, archaeological research, science education, and entertainment, in two sections - a main building, with the exhibition area on about 17,000 square meters, and an annex as a Wu culture communications and research center, on about 10,000 square meters.

The exhibition area is subdivided into seven display areas - 3D Cinema, Archaeological Hall of Wu, Interactive Experience Hall of Great Helv, Hall of Passing the Torch, Hall of Ritual Music in the Spring and Autumn Period, Hall of Helv Achievements, and Hall of the Charm of Ancient Wu. The communications and research center is mainly for entertainment, catering, conferences and accommodation.