Brief Description
No doubt thousands of statues still remain to be unearthed at
this archaeological site, which was not discovered until 1974. Qin (d.
210 B.C.), the first unifier of China, is buried, surrounded by the
famous terracotta warriors, at the centre of a complex designed to
mirror the urban plan of the capital, Xianyan. The small figures are all
different; with their horses, chariots and weapons, they are
masterpieces of realism and also of great historical interest.
Long Description
The mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang is the largest preserved one in
China. It is a unique architectural ensemble whose layout echoes the
urban plan of the capital, Xianyang, with the Imperial Palace enclosed
by the walls of the city, themselves encircled by other walls. The
mausoleum is also associated with an event of universal significance:
the first unification of the Chinese territory in a centralized state
created by an absolute monarch, in 221 BC.
The first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (Ying Zheng: 221-210 BC)
arranged for his burial place long before his accession to the seat of
supreme power. When he became king of Qin in 247 BC, Zheng had his
geomancers choose a favourable site at the foot of Mount Li. Work was
commenced and was carried out more energetically with each new political
and military success over his rivals Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan and Qi.
Following the proclamation of the Empire of Ten Thousand Generations in
221, work at the burial place took on extraordinary dimensions.
About 700,000 workers from every province of the empire toiled
unceasingly until the death of the emperor in order to construct a
subterranean city within a gigantic mound. The place was a veritable
scale model of the palace, the empire and the world. Its treasures were
safeguarded by automatically triggered weapons designed to thwart tomb
robbers.
After Qin Shi Huang's death, the principal craftsmen of the hypogeum
were walled up on the orders of the second emperor, as a precaution
against their betraying their secrets. The mausoleum, 35 km from Xian,
is still landmarked by an imposing mound 43 m high. The interior is
built within a first square enclosure, with doors in the middle of each
of the four walls corresponding to the four cardinal points. This in
turn is surrounded by a second rectangular enclosure running
north-south.
The mausoleum's superstructures have disappeared and there remains
only a wooded knoll resembling a truncated pyramid on a 350 m square
base. While sinking a well 1.5 km from the exterior eastern wall of the
mausoleum's inner room, three peasants from the small village of
Yangeun-West came upon a pit in which there were lifesize terracotta
statues of warriors. Excavations were begun immediately. Pit 1 contained
a veritable army of 1,087 warriors, the infantry and cavalry corps
standing in battle formation with archers protecting the flanks. Today
it is estimated that there are a potential 6,000 statues of warriors and
horses in that one pit alone, which has floored galleries 230 m long.
It is now entirely enclosed by the site museum.
Two other pits were discovered just north of Pit 1 and were found to
contain similar items - 1,500 warriors, carts and horses in Pit 2, and
68 officers and dignitaries and a cart with four horses in Pit 3. These
pits were provisionally backfilled and the objects extracted from them
displayed in exhibition rooms flanking the north and south ends of the
great hall of the site museum. Other finds were made on the western
slope of the mound; these included notably two half-life-size cast
bronze quadrigae.
According to current estimates, the statue army of the Qin Shi Huang
Mausoleum must have represented the exact number of the imperial guards.
Over the past thirteen years, discoveries have revealed the dimensions
of the mausoleum, and the site constitutes one of the most fabulous
archaeological reserves in the world.
Because of their exceptional technical and artistic qualities, the
terracotta warriors and horses and the funerary carts in bronze are
major works in the history of Chinese sculpture prior to the reign of
the Han dynasty. The army of statues also bears unique testimony to the
military organization in China at the time of the Warring Kingdoms
(475-221 BC) and that of the short-lived Empire of a Thousand
Generations (221-210 BC) The direct testimony of the objects found in situ (lances, swords, axes, halberds, bows, arrows, etc.) is evident.
Source: UNESCO/CLT/WHC
