The cultural relics team of the museum has cleared and excavated the ancient tombs and sites in the province 100 times and obtained more than 20,000 cultural relics. There are nearly 100 fine works in the collection. Among them are the Yun Leiwen bronze drum unearthed from the ancient tomb of Wanjiaba in the Spring and Autumn Period (the earliest bronze drum ever discovered) and the claw-shaped three-button chime; House-shaped copper coffin (200 cm long, 62 cm wide, 64 cm high and weighing 257 kg) unearthed from the ancient tomb of Dabona in the Warring States Period, which is composed of 7 pieces of copper and cast with exquisite animal images; It belongs to the bronze case (76 cm long and 43 cm high) unearthed from the ancient tomb of Lijiashan during the Warring States Period. The whole instrument consists of two cows and a tiger. Tiger ox decorated with copper pillow and carved copper arm armor; It belongs to knight (gold-plated) cattle-herding copper shell, drum-shaped copper shell of textile scene, barrel-shaped copper shell of war scene, gold-plated copper buckle of captive image, gold-plated copper buckle of two-person dance disc, gold-plated copper buckle of eight-person music and dance, and bronze buckle of three-water birds unearthed from Shizhaishan ancient tomb in the Western Han Dynasty. Golden Guanyin statue (28cm high and weighing 1 135g), silver-plated golden winged bird and five-color stupa model unearthed from the Three Pagodas in Dali; His paintings and calligraphy include Guo's Visit to Friends in the Western Hills in the Northern Song Dynasty, Huang's Visit to Daitu in Tunxi in the Yuan Dynasty, Xu Xiake's Poem of a Wonderful Monk in Jizu Mountain in the Ming Dynasty, No Mountain in the Ming Dynasty and Riding a Horse in the Qing Dynasty.

The most distinctive collections of Yunnan Provincial Museum are bronzes of Yunnan culture, Buddhist relics in Nanzhao and Dali periods, and colorful cultural relics of ethnic minorities in modern times.