Shanghai History Museum opens coffee shop with <i>haipai </i>style and exhibitions
People can now embark on a journey through time amid the aroma of coffee at the Shanghai History Museum in Huangpu District.
A cafe on the first floor of the museum's West Building opened on Wednesday, and the museum will provide English AR guide service from May 1.
The cafe, an outlet of Mapoly, features a strong haipai (Shanghai-style culture) flavor and a combination of chic design and classical architecture.
There's a "pocket exhibition area" at the cafe, displaying coffee-related old posters, photos and comics, bearing silent witness to Shanghai's historic connection to coffee and city life.
A "city parlor" in white creates a socializing platform for customers.
In the future, small-scale art performances and salons will be held here.
The cafe also launched several new flavors to satisfy coffee drinkers with inspiration drawn from the museum.
After wearing AR spectacles, visitors are able to see 30 exhibits in details via 3D virtual reality simulation technology and hear the history and stories behind these exhibits in English, from May.
The museum complex on Nanjing Road W., which used to house Shanghai Race Club, consists of the East Building, which was the club's mansion, the West Building, which was its office building, and the landscape courtyard between the two buildings.
The two structures are the museum's largest exhibits, which is a monument to the city's history in and of itself.
The Shanghai Race Club was founded in the mid-1880s. The East Building, as it stands today, was built in 1934. It was built in the 1930s in the English Classicism style, with a 53-meter-high bell tower on top.
The portico features eight Tuscan pillars, which are only found in a few Shanghai buildings.
The West Building, built in 1928, housed the club's supporting facilities, and the red bricks are a silent witness to a bygone era.
Info:
Venue: Shanghai History Museum
Address: 325 Nanjing Road W.
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