The stunning Suzhou Museum (苏州博物馆, Sūzhōu Bówùguǎn, closed Mondays) ranks as one of the best in China, both for its exquisite artifacts and the architecture of the museum itself, designed by the late IM Pei, a Chinese-American architect with family roots in Suzhou. Famously, Pei designed the iconic pyramid entrance to the Louvre Museum in Paris back in 1989; the Suzhou Museum was completed in 2006 when he was 89 years old.
With its monochrome livery of whitewashed walls and black tiles, Pei's vision is a marvelously modernist take on traditional Jiangnan architecture (Jiangnan means "south of the river" and refers to the culturally-rich lower Yangzi region). Tranquil inner courtyards with rockeries, trees and water features are a nod to Suzhou’s garden culture – the Humble Administrator’s Garden is just next door.
Among the highlights of the museum's collection are objects retrieved from the city’s old pagodas. In 1978, three boys broke into Suzhou's then shuttered Ruiguang Pagoda to collect sparrow eggs and happened upon a hidden alcove. Of the treasure within – Buddha statues, gilded bronze stupas, Buddhist scriptures – one was almost otherworldly in its beauty: a 122cm-high dhvaja (a kind of container for storing Buddhist relics) made from precious nanmu wood and inset with some 40,000 pearls, jade, gold and silver.
More loot was unearthed in Tiger Hill's Cloud Rock Pagoda during restoration works in 1956. Look out for the lotus-flower-shaped bowl of celadon ware (green glazed pottery), which dates back to the Five Dynasties period (907–60 CE).
Like most major Chinese museums, you’ll need to reserve your ticket (free) up to one week in advance using WeChat. Bring your passport for entry.
Don't miss the clever mountainscape by the pond or Zhong Wang Fu mansion, a 19th-century courtyard complex that makes up the final section of the museum.
Visitor numbers are limited so crowding isn't an issue and the queue to get in tends to move quickly. Before you join the queue, drop off any large bags at the luggage facility opposite.
