The museum of terracotta statues of horses and warriors is the eighth wonder of the world. In China, near Mount Lishan, not far from the ancient capital, Xi'an, there is a burial ground. In it lies the emperor of the great Qin dynasty, and at least 8100 terracotta statues of warriors with horses in full human height.
Qin Shihuang lived in the third century BC and was an outstanding man in the history of China. During his lifetime, he was able to unify all of China and completed the construction of the Great Wall of China. This was a man endowed with great power and huge ambitions, which he decided to realise in an extraordinary way. With him to the grave, he carried with him huge stores of precious treasures and a whole man-made army. In addition, up to 70,000 labourers and their families, 48 concubines (buried alive) were buried with Qin.
The statues were discovered not so long ago, in 1974, by peasants while drilling a well near Mount Lishan. The excavation took place in three phases, the last of which began on 13 June 2009. An army of man-made warriors are buried in crypts one and a half kilometres from the burial of Qin himself.
Mount Lishan is where Emperor Qin is buried. Material for some of the statues was taken from this mountain. The construction of the mausoleum began in 247 BC and lasted as long as 38 years. All the statues of warriors were made by craftsmen in different parts of China. The horses were made near the burial site itself, due to their very heavy weight, it would have been too expensive and heavy to transport them.
Each warrior figure is a true work of art. They are all made by hand, using different techniques, by different craftsmen and from different materials. Each of the warriors is unique, has its own facial features, certain armament (spears, swords, crossbows, bows), horse. Considering the number of warriors, the scale is amazing, and there were also found statues of musicians, actors, officials, chariots.
UNESCO included the Terracotta Army in the World Heritage List.
