7,000 soldiers
January 14, 2010 at 10:00 amDC, Sculptures, artwork
Last night we checked out the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit at the National Geographic Museum. Though Matt already saw them in situ when he was in Xi’an last year, I decided that we should still go, since I probably wouldn’t get another chance. There was no photography allowed in the exhibit, so you’re stuck with a blurry iPhone shot of myself and a replica warrior. sweet!
There were many amazing parts to this exhibit, but I think the most mind-blowing would have to be the age and number of these warriors. They are over 2,000 years old! When most of the history we read about from the US only takes you back a few hundred years, it’s hard to correlate the two. As you stand right there next to them and look at them, it’s hard to imagine someone creating a work of art like that so long ago and that it was so well preserved in some cases. For the numbers, there were 15 soldiers for viewing last night, while there are about 1,000 that have been excavated since their discovery in 1974, they estimate that over 6,000 of them are still buried.
China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, thought of just about everything he would need for his afterlife. At age 13 (!!!!) he commissioned over 700,000 workers to begin creating the clay figures. There were different ranks of generals and soldiers (each with different weaponry), chariot drivers and archers, as well as “entertainment” soldiers like musicians, acrobats, and strongmen. The display takes you through the process by which they were created, as well as the varying details of their appearances and how no two were to be alike. They were buried to the east of his tomb to ward off any invasion in his afterlife. Can you imagine????
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January 14th, 2010 at 10:07 am
i’ve read about these guys. they were like burried underground and someone found them. holy guacamole! well it’s nice that people dug them up and now they are on display traveling around the world while emperor qin shi huang’s tomb has been invaded and his soul dragged down to the depths of a fiery hell. but oh well, i guess it’s all worth it so that we can get a blurry pic of you mugging it with mr mulan
January 14th, 2010 at 10:23 am
JJ — Haha!!! I’m glad you appreciate the bringing of the culture to the people.