The Terracotta Army Invades London About This Page:

[PassPorter News]

by Cheryl Pendry, PassPorter Featured Columnist

There are some things that it's worth traveling halfway around the globe to see. Disney's theme parks are a good example of that and something else that has been attracting visitors from all over the world is China's Terracotta Army. So when you find out that some of the discoveries from that army will be arriving at the British Museum in London, right in your own back yard, there's only one thing to do -- book tickets to go and see the exhibition!

That's exactly what we did and, judging by the problems we had getting tickets, it's an exceptionally popular attraction that's drawing more crowds every day. The exhibition started in mid September and runs until 6 April 2008 and if tickets were limited when we managed to snag ours, they're almost impossible to come by now, with very few days over the next few months showing any availability on the British Museum's web site. 500 tickets are made available to buy in person at the museum every day at 9:15 am if you can't find anything online.

Entry into the exhibition is timed and your ticket will give you a 10 minute slot when you can enter. (Not unlike a Fast Pass!) As you'd expect, there are security checks and you can't take large bags in with you and they are very strict about checking that you turn your cell phones off before you enter. As well as ensuring that no-one disturbs the atmosphere of the exhibition, it also helps to keep photographers at bay. There are NO photos allowed and understandably so, as everything is kept under very low lighting levels.

The exhibition itself is in the Reading Room, which dates from the 19th century. As you walk in, if you look up, you can catch glimpses of volumes of books piled high on shelves above you, behind the newly erected black interior walls that frame the exhibition. Projected on to these are images of the Terracotta Army and stories of their history and how they were discovered.

The Army, which includes around 8,000 soldiers and their horses, protects the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty in his tomb on the outskirts of Xi'an in China. During his reign, the First Emperor achieved much and that's the focus of the first part of the exhibition, as it explains how he unified much of China and introduced many new ways of working, including a system of coins and weights and measures.

But he was determined about one thing - he did not want to die, trying out all sorts of medicines to try and prolong his life. Sadly, none worked, but at least he had made plans. Almost as soon as he became First Emperor, work started on his tomb complex and it's estimated it took 36 years to complete. Of that, so far only a fraction has been uncovered, but what has been found is staggering.

The Terracotta Army was found completely by accident in 1974 by a farmer who was digging a well. Many of the figures uncovered were, unsurprisingly, in different pieces. After all, they do date back more than 2,000 years. Painstakingly, archaeologists have restored them piece by piece and you can see that, as you gaze at some of them. This tour was never about bringing one or two items over to the British Museum. As we walked through the exhibition and got to the end section, where the figures of soldiers, acrobats, horses and strongmen are the obvious attraction, we counted at least 20 different pieces to feast your eyes on.

From generals, with their long coats, to standing and kneeling archers and the charioteers and their horses, every single soldier on display was different. The detail is amazing, with even the heels of the shoe on the kneeling archer textured and resembling today's footwear. The detail of the armor and the hinges holding it together can be clearly seen, as can details on the faces, including mustaches.

Pigments of color still remain and you can start to imagine what these life-size figures would have once looked like, complete with their war paint on. Having said that, the one example of a figure fully painted looked strangely eerie and somehow the way the Terracotta Army looks today, in just the color of the clay they were molded from, seems more fitting.

The exhibition is about more than warriors though. The First Emperor would need lots of things in the afterlife, so he was also surrounded by civil officials, unarmed and with knives to carve out writing on strips of bamboo, acrobats, musicians, a strongman and even a bird. Sadly, many of these figures are in a worse state of repair than the soldiers, with some missing arms or even heads, and here you can clearly see how they were put back together. Even so, it's still fascinating to see these figures, all of which tell us a little bit about the world all those thousands of years ago.

As we stood and stared at the figures, there was a hush in the room, as if everyone in there was just taking in the scene in stunned silence. The figures are displayed in the center of the room, so you can walk around them and study them from all sides, but they're also well protected by security measures and every so often, the quietness would be broken by the sound of alarms as someone strayed a little too close. It was a truly moving experience to be so close to such a wonder of the world and everyone is allowed to linger for as long as they want to carefully inspect the figures. That's certainly something we took full advantage of.

As we left the exhibition, I couldn't help but think about the work that's still going on today in Xi'an to excavate the First Emperor's tomb complex. Archaeologists are finding more and more every year and they believe that there is more than a generation's work still to do. You can't help but feel very small when you think about the vast size of the site and everything that's been discovered so far. No doubt I won't be the only visitor to this exhibition to be left with a real desire to head to China and see the rest of the Army for myself.
The exhibition costs 12 pounds ($24) for adults, 10 pounds ($20) for 16-18 year olds, students, and disabled people, while children under the age of 16 are free of charge, provided they're accompanied by a full-paying adult.

Tip: If you cannot get to London before the exhibit closes but you are visiting Walt Disney World, check out the "Tomb Warriors: Guardian Spirits of Ancient China" exhibit in the China pavilion at Epcot. The exhibit features a large collection of miniature replicats of the Terracotta Army, as well as other historical artifacts.