Terracotta Army (6)
Perhaps the most interesting restoration at the Terracotta Army UNESCO Heritage Site in Xian China. Horses, driver and carriage.
Built by Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China, the buried terracotta army lay undiscovered for over 2200 years. Construction of this mausoleum began in 246 BCE and the project eventually involved 700,000 conscripted workers. As of the date I made this image, four main pits approximately 7 metres (23 ft) deep have been excavated. The main pit (Pit 1) is about the size of a football field (230 metres (750 ft) long and 62 metres (203 ft) wide). It contains the main army of more than 6,000 life-size clay (terracotta) figures (soldiers, horses, wagons). Originally they were all coloured, decorated and equipped with real weapons.
Most of the soldiers were reduced to rubble through vandalism and a large fire a few years after the death of Qin. Since the discovery of the site in 1974, China has been actively working to reconstruct and preserve the Terracotta Army (see several of the previously posted images in this set).
For more information:
Terracotta Army (6)
Perhaps the most interesting restoration at the Terracotta Army UNESCO Heritage Site in Xian China. Horses, driver and carriage.
Built by Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China, the buried terracotta army lay undiscovered for over 2200 years. Construction of this mausoleum began in 246 BCE and the project eventually involved 700,000 conscripted workers. As of the date I made this image, four main pits approximately 7 metres (23 ft) deep have been excavated. The main pit (Pit 1) is about the size of a football field (230 metres (750 ft) long and 62 metres (203 ft) wide). It contains the main army of more than 6,000 life-size clay (terracotta) figures (soldiers, horses, wagons). Originally they were all coloured, decorated and equipped with real weapons.
Most of the soldiers were reduced to rubble through vandalism and a large fire a few years after the death of Qin. Since the discovery of the site in 1974, China has been actively working to reconstruct and preserve the Terracotta Army (see several of the previously posted images in this set).
For more information: