The Ordos Museum, housed in a spectacular polished-metal building designed by MAD Architects, contains a solid collection covering the natural history, archaeology, and cultural heritage of the Ordos plateau. The Ordos Bronze Culture collection is the highlight: the plateau was a major centre of nomadic metalworking from roughly 600 BCE to 100 CE, producing distinctive animal-style bronzes — belt plaques, harness ornaments, and weapons decorated with stylised deer, horses, and predators — that are among the finest examples of steppe art anywhere in the world.
The natural history section covers the geology and palaeontology of the Kubuqi Desert and the broader Ordos plateau, with good exhibits on the region's fossil record. The cultural section includes Mongolian material culture and documentation of the Genghis Khan ritual traditions maintained by the Darkhad clan. Allow 2–3 hours. Entry fee is modest; the building's interior is as dramatic as the exterior, with a spiralling atrium that recalls the forms of a Mongolian ger.