3 months ago
WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) -- Terra Cotta Warriors are life-size clay men made by ancient Chinese craftsmen. Fifteen of them stand guard inside the National Geographic Museum starting Nov. 19, 2009.
The army of about 7,000 was buried with the first Chinese Emperor, Qin (221 B.C. to 210 B.C.), more than 2,000 years ago in an underground tomb. The emperor wanted to be protected in his afterlife.
"It is just overwhelming! [The Chinese] knowledge of materials, and their techniques are just unbelievable considering how long ago that was," says museum visitor Morton Wilhelm.
Wilhelm says his wife saw the warriors in China years ago. He wanted to see them for himself.
The public debut of the exhibit brought hoards of visitors. Museum director Susan Norton says one-third of the 300,000 tickets have already been purchased.
"This was an incredible achievement. It would be an incredible achievement now. But twenty-two hundred years ago? It's hard to imagine this scale of endeavor," says Norton. It took 36 years to complete the emperor's tomb.
And the Warriors remained unknown until 1974 when Chinese farmers in central Xi'An, China, discovered broken pieces of the army during a dig for a well. Pieceing together the broken artifacts took years.
"I'd love to go to China. See them person to person," says Ronnie Bubb of Fairfax, Va.
About 6,000 warriors and the emperor's body remain unexcavated. Authorities believe the ruler may have died from mercury poisoning in a quest for an elixir to everlasting life.
The exhibit is scheduled to run until March 31, 2010.
Written by Elizabeth Jia9NEWS NOW & WUSA9.com
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