Zigong Dinosaur Museum is located in the northeast of Zigong City, Sichuan Province, away from the city center 1 1 km. It is a large-scale site museum built on the world-famous "Dashanpu dinosaur fossil site". It is another large site museum after Banpo Site and Terracotta Warriors Pit in China. It is also the first professional dinosaur museum in China and one of the three largest dinosaur site museums in the world.
The museum covers an area of more than 66,000 square meters, and its collection of fossil specimens almost covers all known dinosaur species in Jurassic period 201-65438+45 million years ago, making it one of the places with the largest collection and display of Jurassic dinosaur fossils in the world. It was named "the best dinosaur museum in the world" by National Geographic magazine.
Basic introduction
The earth is the only celestial body in the solar system that is known to have life, and it has experienced a history of nearly 4.6 billion years. Long before the birth of mankind, the planet was ruled by thriving reptiles in the Mesozoic era (252 million-66 million years ago) in the history of the earth. Among them, the most representative is "dinosaur". Therefore, the Mesozoic era in the history of the earth is called the "dinosaur era".
Zigong, Sichuan is not only a famous salt capital for thousands of years, but also an important dinosaur fossil producing area in China. The Jurassic terrestrial strata in this area (20 1 100 million years ago-145 million years ago) were quite developed, and dinosaur fossils were buried in the early, middle and late Jurassic terrestrial strata, and the dinosaur fossils in this period were the weak link in the world dinosaur research, so the dinosaur fossils in Zigong provided rich and key raw materials for the world to study the evolution of dinosaurs.
Overview of folding
According to the geological survey, Zigong Dinosaur Museum was an open lakeside area in Jurassic period, with hot climate, abundant water plants and towering trees, which was an ideal place for dinosaurs to live, while Dashanpu was a calm sandy shoal, where the dead dinosaur remains and river water were brought from a distance and buried by the sediment on the shoal. The accumulation of human remains and the burial of sediments alternated for a long time, and then after a long backlog of/kloc-0 to 200 million years, today's fossil-bearing sandstone layer was finally formed.
The world-famous Dashanpu dinosaur fossil site in Zigong City-Folding Dinosaur Cave is located at 1 1 km northeast of Zigong city center. Dashanpu dinosaur fossil site was discovered in 1972, and a large number of precious dinosaur fossils have been excavated one after another, becoming a rare fossil treasure house. After investigation, the fossil-rich area of Dashanpu dinosaur fossil site reached 1.7 million square meters, divided into 3 to 4 floors. Nearly 100 individual dinosaur fossils were unearthed in two areas of more than 800 square meters, which are relatively complete and complete.
Zigong dinosaur museum has more than 30 skeletons. Its dinosaur fauna includes nearly 20 species of 3 classes 1 1 orders 15 families, and a number of precious companion animal fossils have been unearthed. A considerable part of this fossil group are new genera and species, including the second longest dragon in Asia, herbivorous sauropod dinosaur, fierce carnivorous dinosaur, short ornithopod dinosaur and extremely precious primitive stegosaurus, which are very rare in the strata of the same geological era at home and abroad and have high scientific research value and sightseeing value. It provides a material basis for studying the classification, ecology, physiology, life and evolution of dinosaurs and ancient reptiles, as well as paleogeography, paleoclimate and Mesozoic geoscience. It has become an important place to study Jurassic fossils in the world, and it also provides exciting wonders for Chinese and foreign tourists. It is known as the "Dinosaur Cave of the World Wonder" and the "National Treasure of China".
The construction of the folding museum and the appearance of dinosaur fossils in Dashanpu shocked the paleontological academic circles and attracted the attention of scholars at home and abroad and the favor of tourists. Its discovery fills the gaps in the history of dinosaur evolution, excavation and research, and attracts experts, scholars and tourists at home and abroad like a magnet. Since the fossil excavation, more than 200,000 tourists have come here every year. Dinosaur fossils were also invited to Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia and other places for exhibition. In order to reproduce this glorious chapter in the geological history of Zigong, from 65438 to 0984, the state invested tens of millions of yuan to build the largest dinosaur museum in Asia-Zigong Dinosaur Museum. This is one of the three largest dinosaur museums in the world after the National Dinosaur Park in the United States and the Dinosaur Park in Canada, and is known as the "Oriental Dragon Palace". 199 1 year, Zigong dinosaur museum was rated as "Top 40 Tourist Attractions in China" and included in the World Geological Heritage List. In 2002, it became the first batch of national geoparks, and in February 2008, it was approved by UNESCO to join the world geopark network. Now it has become a tourist destination for Chinese and foreign tourists.
Folding fossil excavation and folding architecture, the main building of Zigong Dinosaur Museum is based on the concept of "a pile of fossils in the wild age" and the shape of huge stones as the modeling basis.
Zigong dinosaur museum looks like a huge "cave" from a distance, and looks like a big dinosaur lying on its side from the top, quiet and dynamic. Designed by China Southwest Architectural Design and Research Institute, this museum is a classic of architectural design of China Modern Museum. He has successively won the first prize of national excellent project, the gold medal of national architectural engineering, the top ten buildings in Sichuan in the 50 years since the founding of New China, the top 30 representative China fine buildings in the 20th century, and the 190 1-2000 century-old classic of China architecture. In addition to the main hall, the other supporting facilities of the "Dragon Palace" are like the boulder shape of the main hall, with angular sandstone strips outside, which are in harmony with the main hall, forming a trend of stars holding the moon.
The visitor center of Zigong Dinosaur Museum, which was completed and put into use in 2002, is another landmark building of the dinosaur museum. Looks like a huge dinosaur, vivid and generous; It is a model project with outstanding personality and distinctive characteristics.
Starting from the existing basic exhibition "Jurassic Dinosaur World" in Zigong Dinosaur Museum, the folding exhibition hall is unfolded in the order of "Dinosaur World-Dinosaur Site-Dinosaur Age Animals and Plants-Treasure Hall-Dinosaur Reproduction", absorbing the modern exhibition concept, adopting the combination of scene display and personification, supplemented by sound, light, electricity and multimedia display means, and unfolding a spectacular and magical prehistoric picture scroll. At the same time, it also highlights the essence of the museum-the burial place of fossils, which gives people a strong visual impact and spiritual shock, fully embodying the dual characteristics of professional museums, heritage and museums.
Zigong dinosaur museum is a folding structure. Zigong dinosaur museum has a novel design and unique shape. It consists of several stone buildings with different sizes, shapes and functions, just like large sandstone-like objects scattered in subtropical flora. One of the hollow oval stone masonry, located on a green circular lawn, looks like a huge dinosaur head and a huge dinosaur egg from a distance. This is a large stone carving: "Prehistoric Soul". The main building of the museum is rough and simple, concise and magnificent. Its shape is cave-like, and it looks like a pile of yellow boulders from a distance, which contrasts with the surrounding Mesozoic plants and gives people the impression of ancient floods.
Entering from the gate of the Dragon Palace, we entered the dinosaur era in yuanshi county in one step, and we were presented with a spectacular prehistoric scene: the basement of the central hall and the fossil burial hall were like a huge "dinosaur graveyard" with countless animal remains, just like the "Wanlong Pit" that was buried alive after being killed. This magical natural landscape is breathtaking. Fossil burial hall is the essence of Zigong dinosaur museum, covering an area of about 1000 square meters. At present, about 40 individual materials of various dinosaur fossils and animal fossils have been unearthed. All the fossils remain in the original buried state.
Zigong dinosaur museum, the second floor of the museum is the dinosaur era animal and plant museum, which displays nearly 20 kinds of animal fossil specimens unearthed from this fossil site. Fossil specimens of dinosaurs and their living animals, such as fish, turtles, amphibians, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs and three-toothed mammals, show tourists the ecological characteristics and assemblage characteristics of the Middle Jurassic dinosaur fauna in Dashanpu. Entering this hall is like coming to the ancient "Dragon World".
With the development of this section, the museum broke ground in April of 1984 and was officially opened to the public during the Spring Festival of 1987. With the admiration of Chinese and foreign tourists, the dinosaur museum has gradually become famous in the world. Up to now, it has received about 7 million Chinese and foreign tourists, which has been greatly praised by domestic and foreign audiences. Dozens of central leaders from Hu Jintao, Qiao Shi, Wei Jianxing, Zhang Aiping, Wan Li, Li, etc. have visited here, and many famous experts and celebrities at home and abroad have made a special trip to visit and exchange. Especially on May 12, 2003, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Hu Jintao of president visited the dinosaur museum in person, which fully affirmed the remarkable achievements made in the development of the museum.
Zigong dinosaur museum, from 1989, Zigong dinosaurs went abroad and traveled around the world. It has been exhibited 14 times in 23 cities including Japan, Thailand, Denmark, the United States, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Hong Kong, with a cumulative audience of more than100000. It was praised by foreign friends as a "friendly messenger1.600 million years ago". At the same time, Zigong dinosaurs also went to Shanghai, Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Fuzhou, Datong, Chongqing, Shenzhen and other more than 30 large and medium-sized cities in China to participate in the exhibition, which was equally popular everywhere, with nearly 1 10,000 domestic visitors, and the two major benefits were very significant.
The museum has successively won the National First-class Museum, Popular Science Education Base of the Ministry of Land and Resources, Forty Best Tourist Attractions in China, National Geopark, National AAAA Scenic Spot and National Youth Science and Technology Education Base, as well as Advanced Collective of Cultural Work, Top Ten National Exhibition Awards, Sichuan Provincial Key Museums and 30 Most Representative China Outstanding in the 20th Century.