the terracotta warriors of Xi’an
Xi’an located in China’s north west had been hiding one of the biggest world wonders for more than 2000 years and it had only been discovered by accident in 1974 when farmers were digging for water.
After intensive excavation work they discovered so far approx. 7500 warriors and horses all facing to the east and set in a formation ready for the battle. Each warrior has its individual face which was a copy of the face of the slave who created it…. just before he got killed. Due to that the slaves became immortal in a certain way…. though it was a very cruel thing as they knew from beginning they will get killed upon completion of ‘their’ soldier. By this the emperor Qin Shi Huang wanted to make absolutely sure nobody will get to know about his secret army.
Unfortunately the colours from the warriors vanish once in contact with oxygen and all the excavated warriors are presenting themselves in a stoney grey instead of showing the colours they were initially bearing.
A beautifully sad story but nevertheless breathtaking by its dimensions.
suebluesky 