XI’AN
THE TERRACOTTA ARMY ❤️

About an hour’s drive from Xi’an, fifty years ago’ a farmer as he did every morning left his house early to hoe his small plot of land, that morning he knew that he would have to work harder than usual because he had decided to hoe a very small uncultivated and brushwood-filled plot of land adjacent to his …what the farmer did not yet know was that on that day he would make one of the greatest Archaeological discoveries of all timeafter clearing the ground of brushwood, he began to hoe it , after a few strokes of the hoe, a round stone came to light, ” here” he said, “I had a feeling this ground would give me hell,” and he set about to remove that stone from the field, but the stone did not want to come away, so he dug a little more, but what he saw immediately afterwards left him bewildered, it was not a stone, but rather a head, whose face looked at him enigmatically, alarmed the peasant went to call the Party official of his village, this one sensed that it might be something big, and he alerted his superiors in Xi’an who arrived with Archaeologists, and there began the Adventure of the Terracotta Army.

What the Archaeologists brought to light was the burial site of the first Emperor of United China, QIN SHI HUANG, commonly called Qin, hence the name “China.”

This Emperor who lived in the third century B.C., is one of the most famous and controversial figures in Chinese History, among his most important actions, there is undoubtedly the unification of China, before that time it was divided into many independent statelets, a bit like Italy in the 1400s, then came the ruthless persecution of Intellectuals, and the abolition of Feudalism, but many other merits of this character, the unity of writing, the monetary system, etc…

However, his main ambition was to become immortal, and thus to rule forever, for this purpose ( written sources of the time prove this) he commissioned numerous Alchemists to find a potion that would enable him if not to become immortal, at least to lengthen his life disproportionately .
Emissaries were sent to the mythical islands of the Immortals in the East China Sea in search of the elixir of eternal life, his had become a real obsession….at a certain point, however, he had to surrender to the idea that he too was a mortal like the last of his subjects, so he decided that at least his remains should rest in a place worthy of his role, so he had an astonishing Mausoleum erected, which consisted of an immense underground palace, both the design of the palace and the materials used reveal the Sovereign’s desire to gather around him everything that was necessary to continue to maintain control of the Kingdom even from the afterlife.

Several rivers were diverted to build the burial chamber, all at a depth of 30 meters, eventually the Sepulchre that was supposed to be inviolable was covered with an artificial hill over 50 meters high…the Sovereign wanted a standing army to be always ready to intervene at his command, so this army of warriors was made larger than life-size as they are 180 centimeters tall, and weighing 200 kilograms… in an estimated number of more than 8,000, the amazing thing is that each one is different from the other, and originally they were all colorful, in addition to the warriors, pits were made with stables, servants, acrobats and musicians, canals with delicate bronze birds, bronze chariots adorned with gold and silver, and much more, all were to be used to make life in the afterlife better for the Sovereign.
It took less than 10 years to do all this, as QIN proclaimed himself Emperor in 221 B.C. and died in 210
Eventually the whole thing was buried under tons of earth.
The consequences of this display of supposed immortality transcended the borders of China, helping to create the mystical aura that surrounded the ruler, and in the end it was the Mausoleum, even more than his accomplishments in life, that ensured the emperor’s immortality.

At present, more than 2,000 statues out of 8,000 have been unearthed, and there are more than 100 chariots and 500 horses that complete this army in battle formation.

The entire funerary site covers over 60 square kilometers….but the visit is enclosed only to the 3 huge Hangars built after the discovery, where it is possible to see most of the warriors unearthed, some small museums tell the History of the site and the emperor, inside which are exhibited some of the most beautiful Statues found at the site… it must be said that the most beautiful Statues are often touring around the world, so it is not always possible to see them all .For the record, the artificial hill underneath which the burial chamber is located is still untouched, data has only been collected through deep soil ultrasound techniques, which revealed its composition.