The Historical Museum of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a branch of the Nanjing Museum Administration, is the only museum that China has set up especially for researching the history of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It is also a professional research institution in China that has the largest collections of cultural relics and historical records of the kingdom.

Zhanyuan Garden, where the museum is located, is a garden in Nanjing that has the longest history. Renowned as one of the “Four Famous Gardens in Jiangnan” and the “No.1 Garden in Jinling”, the garden is a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level. The 24,500-square-meter garden has a construction area of 9,600 square meters and a green area of 15,500 square meters. Originally the west garden of the residence of Xu Da, King Wuning of Zhongshan of the Ming dynasty, the garden served as the office of the Jiangning Commissioner in the Qing dynasty. Emperor Qianlong stayed here on two of his southern inspection tours, and handwrote the name of the garden, “Zhanyuan”. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom period, the garden served as the residence of the kingdom’s East King and young West King. During the Republic of China period, it was the seat for offices of the governor of Jiangsu province, the Ministry of the Interior, and other agencies of the National Government.

Permanent exhibitions: “The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom History Exhibition”, “Ming King Wuning of Zhongshan Xu Da Historical Relics and Records Exhibition”, “Qing Jiangning Commissioner’s Office Historical Relics and Records Exhibition”, and “Mural Art Museum/Mural Art Museum of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Period”. The museum holds more than 2,800 cultural objects of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, more than 10,000 photos of cultural relics and sites, and over 2,000 original files and letters of the Qing dynasty. Among them, the Dragon Jacket (a magua with dragon roundels), the original editions of Heavenly King-approved Imperial Examinations Regulations, Heavenly King-approved Articles Written on the Journey to Fetch Relief Troops, and Heavenly King-approved Conversion to Original of Elites printed by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and a number of other rare treasures have comprehensively revealed the history of this great peasant movement.