An Oriental Adventure in Indianapolis - China's Terracotta Army.

Have you ever been to Indianapolis? If so have you ever been to the Indianapolis Children's Museum? No? You've missed out.

Especially if you've been in Indianapolis recently and didn't go to see the amazing Terracotta Warrior's exhibit "The Emperor''s Painted Army" they've had running. If you're headed to Indianapolis before November 2nd, there's still time. So go. Right now. Seriously.

'Come see us in Indianapolis, or I'll set my horse on you! '

The ICM has a wide variety of awesome exhibits to boast about, ranging from old school trainsets to a dinosaur skull with a fossilized brain tumour. They also have interactive rooms where children large and small (and adults!) can expend a little energy after browsing the exhibits. I'll get back to these things in another post, another day. Today all I care about is the Warriors.

Note the detail in the hair and moustache.

That legendary 8000-strong afterlife entourage of Qin Shi Huang, China's first Emperor. Before entering the exhibit itself, we were privy to a short film with some historical background concerning the warriors, then the lights went dark and the doors opened and I spent the next few hours staring at everything my eyes could focus on.

The Army was buried with the Emperor in 209/210 BCE and trusted to guard him in his afterlife. They were uncovered by farmers in 1974. Can you imagine? One day you're out digging your fields and the next thing you know, you've punched through to n underground cavern filled to the brim with terracotta sculptures staring back at you...
 

My favourite Warrior. I love the hair and the shoe sole.

That's one of the most fascinating things about this army to me; what with all the effort and detail put into it's creation, no living soul was ever meant to see them again after the tomb was sealed. 

Other terracotta figures were also recovered, portraying officials, strongmen, acrobats and mucisians. Obviously the Emperor was in need of such great comforts in death as in life.

The sculptures had been placed in three large pits, located around a mile from the Qin Emperor's burial mound at Lishan, east of Xi'an in Shaanxi province. The mound itself has not yet been investigated but it has been forwarded that it may contain a full-size replication of the Emperor's palace. Given that he took an entire army with him to his grave, alongside numerous horses and chariots, I don't think that's too much of a stretch..

The Warriors were commissioned by the Emperor at the tender age of 13 and over the next 30 years, 700,000 workers toiled to complete the order. The statues were sculpted, fired and assembled meticulously by artists and craftsmen before being painted in bright colours, mostly extracted from minerals.

One interesting note was that the violet, a result of chemistry rather than mineral extraction, was closely related to Egyptian blue, used in the funerary art of Ancient Egypt. Could this be proof of a connection between these cultures? Or at least a trade network spanning the continents?

One of the Generals.

This guy carried a knife on his hip.

Of all the 8000 faces found so far, no two have been the same. Every soldier is unique, like a real army. Theories have been forwarded that the artists in charge of creating the individuals may have put their own faces on their creations.

Before their interment, the statues were placed in military fashion, according to rank. The higher ranking the soldier, the taller they were made, making the Generals the tallest of all of them.

The hair and the buckles and the armour, oh my!

Make-your-own-Warrior!

The exhibit itself consisted of a number of statues, ranging from one of the Generals to archers, footsoldiers and even a cavalryman and his horse. My favourite thing has to be the level of detail and individuality in each sculpture.

The hairstyles and armour.. I could have stared at them non-stop for hours. Actually, i could still be there now and not yet have grown bored.

Checking out the model of the emperor's bronze chariot.

The interactive displays were also great both for kids and adults. There were touchscreens and activity posts spread evenly throughout. My favourite had to be the little molds where you could make your own Warrior to set up in ranks alongside others to better visualise the huge number of Warriors discovered so far.




So! If you have an afternoon free and you're anywhere near Indianapolis, IN before November 2nd, give yourself a treat and stop by the Children's Museum. Even if you don't have kids.