Two thousand years ago, in a bid to conquer death itself, China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang commissioned a city of the dead: a 49 sq km mausoleum guarded by an army of clay warriors, built to defend his tomb for eternity. When farmers near Xi’an unearthed the first clay head in 1974, they cracked open one of humanity’s greatest archaeological mysteries, with more than 8,000 Terracotta Warriors discovered over the last 50 years. Now, fragments of that dream of immortality rise again – this time in Perth, where the largest exhibition of the Terracotta Warriors ever staged in Australia will head later this year Opening on 28 June at WA Museum Boola Bardip , Terracotta Warriors: Legacy of the First Emperor promises not just a glimpse into ancient China, but a sweeping journey across its foundations in more than 225 artefacts, many of which have never left China.
“It’s hard to put into words how significant this is,” said Alec Coles, CEO of WA Museum Boola Bardip. “Seventy per cent of these objects have never been to Australia before, and 40% have never left China.” “For me, this is the eighth wonder of the world,” he said.
“There is nothing like it anywhere.” Developed in collaboration with the Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Centre and the Emperor Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum Museum, Terracotta Warriors features 10 of the lifesize clay soldiers – the maximum number permitted to leave China – each weighing up to 180kg and standing 1.8m tall.
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