Since the Japanese invasion in 1937, the museum was relocated to multiple locations, until it dissolved in July 1941.

In June 1943, it was re-established in Longquan in western Zhejiang, and returned to Hangzhou in the fall of 1945.

Zhejiang Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage resumed and became independent of the museum.

Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Archaeology was founded in May and separated from the museum in December.

[4] It also deposits the The Remaining Mountain by Yuan dynasty painter Huang Gongwang, which is part of the larger painting Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, with the other half housed in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.