The Terracotta Warriors at the British Museum
For 10 years China Holidays has been sending tourists to Xian in
Shaanxi
Province
in western
China
to see the Terracotta
Warriors and now they are coming to London ! The British Museum is hosting them at the largest exhibition of the army ever on
display outside of their home country and the largest show the British Museum has ever staged. We now
have the opportunity to see 120 pieces from the thousands on display in China,
which amazingly, after laying buried in Xian for thousands of years were only discovered in 1974, but are now certainly considered one of the
most important and for those who get the chance to visit, like the 3000
satisfied customers China Holidays has
so far brought to see the Terracotta
Warriors; breathtaking wonders of the ancient world.
The
Terracotta Warriors in London
The complex operation of bringing the very
delicate Terracotta Army to the British Museum was a wonder in itself
and very complex, but justifiably so as
this is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world, as China Holidays well knows, having taken
so many people to see the Terracotta
Warriors in their original setting. Just convert the British Museum ’s reading room, in which they are being displayed, into a suitable
temporary gallery cost over £1 million! And this is the first time any of the particularly
fragile horses have been allowed outside of
China
. It
gives us a fantastic chance to see some of the pieces very close up and of course
here in London within a short
travelling distance, but it cannot really compare with seeing the whole of the vast
unearthed Terracotta Warriors army in
their original setting , which can easily be arranged with a China
Holidays group tour or tailor made trip of a lifetime.
The
Eighth Wonder of the World
When the list of the seven
wonders of the world was being compiled in ancient
Greece
an
eight wonder; the Terracotta Warriors were buried in their subterranean palace and the ninth; the
Great Wall of China
’s first
stones were being laid. The life size
soldiers, horses, weapons and even chariots form the army of
China
’s
first emperor, buried with him, to protect and fight his battles in the
afterlife so he could continue to rule his huge empire in perpetuity. The sheer
scale of the army in their entirety is breathtaking: over 2,000 warriors have
been discovered so far, with another 5,000 including hundreds of horses and
chariots thought to still remain beneath the soil. The row upon row of warriors
all have unique expressions, varying heights and faces, and even hairstyles and
uniform according to their rank. Making
the vast numbers of them appear to be a very real ancient army waiting to come
to life, ready to do their rulers bidding and also make this surviving ancient
wonder one of the most incredible man made views in the world.
The
Terracotta Army in Xian,
China
Amazingly the Terracotta Warriors were only discovered in 1974 by a chinese pig farmer while digging a well on his farm, on a China Holidays trip visiting the Terracotta Warriors it may even be
possible to meet him as he sometimes signs autographs at the site! The find is the greatest and most important
archaeological discovery of the 20th century and more is still being
unearthed.
A mausoleum for the army’s Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi was also discovered nearby and was said
to be filled with huge amounts of treasure and objects of great craftsmanship. The Terracotta Warriors and their tomb
is believed to have taken 700,000 workers 28 years to complete, it lies a short
distance from Xian, the ancient capital of China, which is one the most popular
cities to visit on a China Holidays tour,
as it has preserved much of it’s beautiful old style Chinese character, a
massive city wall and many other old buildings of importance. Xian is the
perfect contrast to
China
’s bustling metropolises of
Beijing
and
futuristic
Shanghai
, all of which, including the Terracotta
Warriors can be visited with ease on a China
Holidays trip.
