A Jewel of UNESCO for 35 years !
It is in the great plain of the province of Shaanxi that extends Xi’an, its capital and former imperial capital. It shone with a thousand lights under eleven dynasties, until the fall of the Tang in 907. But it is not the vestiges testifying to its past grandeur that explain the enthusiasm enjoyed by the city, the surge of tourists who boost its economy. . Xi’an owes it to its worldwide fame in 1974… Yes, the famous soldiers of Terra Cotta, 35 years ago already!
An incredible story. A miraculous discovery thanks to the peasants who, while digging a well, unearthed curious fragments of terracotta. No, it wasn’t pottery debris, but statues of human bodies! Hence the huge question mark of archėologists … memorable archaeological excavations.
The Terracotta Army
She was buried 22 centuries ago around the tomb of the first Qin emperor. According to the writings of the time, some 700,000 people worked for 36 years to realize the dream of an emperor wishing to assert his omnipotence beyond his life (he died in 210 BC)
Another army, with its battalion of humans and specialized equipment this time, set to work to dig up the buried army, reconstitute it and line it up in a pit 230m by 62m. Five years later, in 1979, the first visitors were able to cross the entrance to the huge hall housing an extraordinary work.
The first pit
The eyes were able to plunge into an excavation open to the unimaginable: columns of hundreds of statues from 1.75m to nearly: 2m high constituting the right wing of an army in battle order with its equipment, his horses. It is grandiose, oppressively realistic. The faces differ; two dozen chins and mustaches have been combined, but the expression is still determined, warlike: one does not approach the emperor were he dead! The site comprising several thousand warriors watching over its eternal rest was looted a few centuries later. As for the tomb – an enormous tumulus fifty meters high, located 1.5 km from the site – it has remained untouched and no excavation program has been established to date. (In the hall, to the left of the excavation, small reproductions of warriors and other memorabilia are available.)
A second pit !
Smaller in size, it was accessible in 1994. It houses the left wing of the army with archers, tanks, cavalry and infantry. A showcase exhibits three superb statues, including one, found intact, of a kneeling archer. On closer inspection, we can see that it is made up of several elements that have been modeled in clay and then baked. # The third, deeper pit probably includes the General Staff, a general and about sixty soldiers and officers facing each other. Other excavations are in progress on this 55 km2 site which has not finished surprising the world of archeology.
The exhibition hall
A huge model of the necropolis unfolds there. What we know about the Qin civilization is delivered via large explanatory panels and a selection of objects discovered during excavations. Another light, the history of the site and the work that archaeologists have accomplished and continue to accomplish with passion. That of the craftsmen who perform miracles to repair and reassemble what at first looks like a puzzle is also visible in the basement.
Two marvelous quadriga
They were discovered in 1980 1.5 km from the Imperial Tomb. Reconstructing the approximately 3,000 pieces of debris found took eight years of work. The chariots, in hollow bronze, illuminated with gold and silver, which are presented here are exact copies in 1/2 scale.
This extraordinary Mausoleum of the first Qin Emperor was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
