Terracotta Army marches on Bucharest

Newsroom 11/03/2013 | 10:12

Local culture enthusiasts will soon be able to enjoy a traveling exhibition of China’s Terracotta Warriors: thousands of life-size terracotta figures from an army prepared for battle. Found by coincidence in 1974, they are now considered one of the greatest archeological discoveries of modern times. Ahead of this monumental exhibition, BR chatted with Ernest Oberländer-Tarnoveanu, director of the National Museum of Romanian History, who is also one of the exhibition’s curators.

By Oana Vasiliu

On view from mid-April to the end of August, the exhibition will feature 101 rare objects – including the Terracotta Warriors – from one of the largest burial sites ever built, the Terracotta Army of the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Four is the maximum number of these figures permitted outside China in a single exhibition. “This is more than an exhibition, it represents 60 years of diplomatic relations between Romania and China translated in a presentation of Chinese culture from Neolithic times (3,600 BC) to the 18th century,” said Oberländer-Tarnoveanu.

Although the main attractions will be the three soldiers – representing a general, an infantryman and a cavalryman along with his horse – visitors will also see objects of jade, painted pottery, bronze, porcelain and stone, all of which are significant parts of China’s contribution to the common cultural heritage of the world.