The Ruins of Song Dacheng were discovered when the construction of municipal works was undertaken in November 1995 in Ximen Street (present-day Xiwangting Road) in the downtown area. Through textual research, a series of important scientific and technological achievements were accomplished, arousing wide-ranging attention from people from all walks of life and governments at various levels. This finding, along with the achievements in research on the ruins of Tang and Song dynasties, has been rated as one of the five key national archaeological findings in 1995 and one of the 10 most important archaeological findings during the Eighth Five-Year Plan Period (1991-1995).
The museum, covering an area of about 1,200 square meters, is divided into two parts; the exhibition hall of ruins and that of cultural relics.
The former one is mainly to display the square outer gateways from Northern and Southern dynasties and the Five Dynasty "horse faces" on the southern side of the whole outer gateway, as well as the layers of brick floors of the gateways and the structure and form of the brick gate. The ruins of the city has three heights according to the three dynasties.
The latter one, located to the south of the ruins, is a series of buildings imitating the Song Dynasty style. Officially opened on October 1,1998, it covers an area of 500 square meters and displays certain cultural relics and related historical documents unearthed in the Ruins of Song Dacheng.
