First established in 1951, the Yunnan Provincial Museum is a comprehensive museum displaying many cultural relics. The museum amassed more than 156,000 items in its collection, the largest collection of its kind. The collection includes bronze wares, ancient coins, ceramics, ancient books, calligraphy and rubbings, postage stamps as well as many different kinds of folk art and handicrafts. Among the several thousands of valuable pieces, over 1,000 have been recognized as first-class national treasures.

These significant national treasures include: fine gold cowry vessels decorated with a figure of a knight, found in Shizhaishan, Jinning County; a bronze ox and a tiger altar, discovered in Lijiashan, Jiangchuan County; a golden standing statue of Guanyin dating from the Dali Kingdom, unearthed in the Three Pagodas in Dali during the Ming Dynasty; a gold tiara inlaid with precious stones belonging to Lady Mu, discovered in Wangjiaying in Chenggong County; a Northern Song Dynasty landscape painting by Guoxi and a Yuan Dynasty one by Huang Gongwang. The most unique pieces in the museum’s collection include the bronze wares of the Dian Kingdom, the Buddhist cultural relics from the Nanzhao and Dali periods, and many extraordinary contemporary pieces of ethnic minority folk art.