Terracotta Times...

I’ve been looking forward to posting these photos for some quite some time, as they feature a place I have always wanted to visit. The Terracotta Army is located in the Shaanxi province of China, and was discovered fairly recently in 1974. Given that these 8,099 life-size terracotta monuments are thought to have been constructed and buried with the first Emperor of Qin in 210-209 BC, that’s some find don’t you think? I’d have loved to be there when they were discovered. “Hey, come and check this out?”!! They are quite a spectacular sight that’s for sure…



The two pictures above feature friend Sarah, along with her friends Sue and Henry. They are stood by their terracotta warriors in the number one pit, which is where the warriors that have been excavated and restored (most were broken by a marauding general a few years after they had been constructed) are displayed. So they’re stood in front of the warriors in 'hospital'.

The two pictures below photos feature Sue and Henry standing next to warriors that were found intact (hence the reason they're in special display cases). Sue is stood next to a standing General, and Henry is stood next to a standing Archer.

Now these are a selection of quite brilliant imitations it has to be said, but I should mention the story of a German student – a Mr Pablo Wendel – who in 2006 managed to infiltrate the terracotta army whilst disguised as one of the soldiers. His disguise was good enough for officials to take several minutes before he was discovered! As he merely wanted to live out a passion of being one of the warriors and damaged none of the statues, police simply confiscated his costume and sent him home. What a great story of man stood by his statue.

Thanks to Sarah and friends for letting me share these fantastic monuments with you all.