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Qin Shi Huang
First Emperor of China |
It is
possible to get to the site of the Terracotta Warriors of the First
Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, on public transportation if you are familiar
with the city. Since we only had a short time in Xi'an, not enough to
familiarize ourselves with the city's public transportation networks,
we decided it would be simpler to ask the hotel to arrange for a car
and guide to take us to the site which is about 49 kilometers east of
the city.
After
a couple cups of strong coffee to clear the head, we had some
breakfast in the hotel restaurant buffet and met our driver and guide
at 10 o'clock in the lobby. It took about an hour to drive to the
Terracotta site.
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| the three pits at the archeological site of the Terracotta Army |
THE FIRST PIT
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| our guide and the pit #1 (curved roof) |
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| pit #1 |
Even
before arriving at the first excavation pit the site has a vast and
impressive park and paved plaza bordering the covered pits. The sheer scale and profligacy of space is
impressive and obviously meant to be so, as a kind of prelude or
overture to what you are about to see. The main site contains three
pits which are active ongoing archeological sites. The first pit,
covered by a curving roof is the most impressive of the three. I'd
estimate it to be as large as a football field if not larger and
contains most of the reconstructed terracotta figures at the site.
THE WORKSHOP AREA OF PIT #1
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| sculptures being restored in the workshop |
 |
broken sculptures
still lying in situ |
The
terracotta warriors were discovered by accident in 1974 when local farmers
were digging a well and broke into a pit. Upon archeological
excavation the pit eventually proved to contain some 6000 life-size
terracotta figures. In 1976 two more pits were found filled with
terracotta warriors. The figures were
originally found toppled, broken and scattered and many have been
painstakingly reconstructed in a workshop on the site. Many have been
restored and can be seen standing in rows within the excavated pit (as above) or
lined up at the workshop (below) waiting to be placed in their original
positions. Others still lie exposed and broken in their in situ
positions before restoration.
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| restored sculptures awaiting positioning in the pits |
THE SECOND PIT
The
second and third pits are newer and mostly only prepared for further
excavation with only a few restored figures.
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| entrance to pit #2 |
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| tableau in pit #2 |
THE THIRD PIT
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| entrance to pit #3 |
 |
| partially excavated pit #3 |
THE MUSEUM
There is an on site
museum where the finest pieces are on display: soldiers, horses,
silver harnesses, horse drawn chariots, etc. The faces of the warriors are all unique. They were modeled on real people and show the features of the individuals they depict.
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| four chariot drawing horses |
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| gold and silver harness |
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| chariot |
THE WARRIORS
WORLD HERITAGE SITE
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| World Heritage logo on the rear wall |
Wikipedia
has this to say about it:
The
Terracotta
Army
(Chinese:
兵马俑;
literally: "Soldier-and-horse funerary statues") is a
collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang,
the first Emperor of China.
It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE and whose purpose was to
protect the emperor in his afterlife.
After
a couple cups of strong coffee to clear the head, we had some
breakfast in the hotel restaurant buffet and met our driver and guide
at 10 o'clock in the lobby. It took about an hour to drive to the
Terracotta site.
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