Once the site of the Temple of Confucius during the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), the Forest of Stone Steles Museum is situated on Sanxue Street, near the south gate of Xian City Wall. It was initially established in 1087 when some precious stone steles were moved here for safe keeping, including the 'Classic on Filial Piety' written by Emperor Xuanzong in 745 AD and 'the Kaicheng Stone Steles' carved in 837AD. With an area of 31,000 square meters, the Forest of Stone Steles used to be the principal museum for Shaanxi province since 1944. Then because of the large number of stone steles, it was officially named as the Forest of Stone Steles Museum in 1992.

With 900 years of history, this treasure house holds a large collection of the earliest stone steles of different periods, from the Han Dynasty (BC 206 - 220 AD) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). All together, there are 3,000 steles and the museum is divided into seven exhibitions halls, which mainly display the works of calligraphy, painting and historical records. All of these record some achievements in the development of the Chinese culture and reflect the historical facts of the cultural exchanges between China and other countries.