The Yangzhou Museum is located inside the 1,500-year-old Tianning Temple. The predecessor of the Museum is Relics Museum founded in 1951. It was renamed "Yangzhou Museum" in 1953. The former site of the Museum was inside the Memorial Temple of Shigong and it was moved to the new site.

There are 15,000 cultural relics, including The David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus) fossil, which is the best-preserved of its kind in China, with a history of more than 10,000 years. The main exhibits are displayed in the second main hall, and show the history of Yangzhou from the Neolithic Age (20,000BP) right through to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), most impressively the history of the three "golden" ages: the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD), the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) dynasties, and the Qing Dynasty.