Chanking Museum

The Chanking Museum was a museum situated on the fictual island of Chanking, in the fictual Chanking Archipelago. During its heyday in May 1942, the museum attracted around 500 people.

The museum began construction in 1938 and was completed in April 1942. During the Battle of Chanking on June 11, 1942 the museum was engulfed in a fire, destroying most of the collections. The remainder of the collection, including some new collection, was housed in a museum of the same name, also engulfed in a fire in 1970. Alomst ninety percent of the fossils survived and one of the original artefacts survived.

1942 fire
At around 12 noon on June 11, 1942, a fire broke out in the pantry of the museum. It spread like wildfire and eventually destroyed the entire building. It is thought that someone lit the building on fire undetected. After the building was burnt down, an attempt to salvage the collections began. Fossils such as the Phinosaurus sacrum (above) and the Chanking "rhamphorynchoid" were found.

1970 fire
The second museum was built in the same place as the first one. The pantry set afire again, destroying the original collection. Curators were baffled as to why the same location was set ablaze twice. In 1981, conclusive evidence showed that the museum was built underneath a volcano hotspot known as Chanking D. The aftermath of the second fire made the area where the museum was built inhospitable.