We took a jaunt today to see the Chinese Warriors today down at the High Museum. Caroline was nice enough to drive the van so we could all pile in and not have to screw around with MARTA. It was me, Nick, Caroline, Xia, Heather and Charles. W00t! There was, of course, no photography inside the exhibit, so you’ll have to be happy with the wiki pics.
The Terracotta Army was found in Xi’an China in 1974 by a farmer digging a well. This army was fabricated for the First Emperor of Qin, 220 BCE.
The exhibit is the largest one that China has sent over, which is slightly disappointing since there were only 9 actual warriors on display. It was a small exhibit when compared to Tut or even Titanic. I don’t blame China for not wanting to send out their shit to the unwashed masses, but I tell you, after seeing pics like the one below, seeing only 8 in formation (the 9th was at the start of the tour) was a little bit of a letdown.
The detail on the warriors is amazing! They really do have individual faces. There were 9 molds for the various ranks, but each one was finished by hand to give facial features like mustaches and such. You can see some remnants of the colours they had when they were new. Also, you could see where they’d been burned by marauders who broke pretty much everything into bits then burned the tombs. Every piece had to be reconstructed from the broken pieces. There are about 1000 put back together, but there are over 7000 warriors in the tomb. A. Maze. Ing.
They also had some of the newest excavated pieces up. They found a musician and bird area where it is presumed that the musicians played and the birds danced. There was one musician, a swan and a crane on display. They also found an area that had acrobats and strong men for more entertainment and the funniest thing, there is an area with bureaucrats – hey, someone has to keep all this stuff organised, even in the afterlife!! There was a strong man and a bureaucrat on display.
Another display was of the half sized horses and carriages, which was awesome until I realised they were reproductions. It was still a really great thing to see these 2200 year old relics and read all about how they were made despite the small number and repros. They did have a sculpture display of how the pieces were made, which was very cool.
If you are near Atlanta, I highly recommend seeing these amazing pieces before they leave April 16 (I think). Be warned, it’s crowded on the weekend! They are extending the museum hours for the last couple of weeks, so go if you can. TOTALLY worth $18!!
I really loved it. I’d really like to go up there again, and see more of the museum. I never knew it was so big!
Although, if I went to see the terracotta army again, I’d go during the week. Too many people to really spend the time you want with each piece. But Louvre was nice. Not crowded at all.
Then we shall go one afternoon and peruse the rest of the museum. They’ve got a fairly decent collection of paintings. I’d be happy to take you! :-)