Cina, turista danneggia due guerrieri di terracotta a Xi'an

epa08154851 Terracotta Warrior statues stand on display in the Terracotta Army museum in Xi'an, Shaangxi Province, China, 19 December 2019 (issued 23 January 2020). The 2200 years old Terracotta Army is considered one of the greatest archeological discoveries of all time. Since they were first accidentally discovered by farmers in 1974 outside of Xi’an, Shaanxi, more than 8,000 warrior sculptures been excavated until today. The life-size soldiers and horses are funerary statues buried in pits near the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi, also known as the first emperor of a unified China. Entering the biggest pit in the museum, visitors can see thousands of sculptures of warriors and horses standing in rows. Each of the statues has a different facial expression and hairstyle and craftsmen are believed to have modeled them after real men. Average height is 190cm, much taller than Chinese people would have been at that time. The most warrior statues have been found in three main pits but there are others in which non-military sculptures were discovered, including officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians. ‘The Terracotta Army is just a part of a much larger necropolis. Here we have more than 20 archeologists, 25 professional restorers and 60 technical staff working on restorations.’ said Lan Desheng, deputy director of the Shaanxi Ceramic Painting Cultural Relics Protection and Restauration Project Center and deputy research librarian of the Qin Shihuang Mausoleum. ‘This year, for the third time, we found more weapons such as bow and arrow, long and short swords as well as drums,’ he added. Nowadays, farmers can still find some pieces of sculptures. They must inform the Cultural Relics management office which will examine the parameter and collect the fragments. ‘It makes me excited when I finish the reparation of sculptures made of a lot of broken pieces. Like a puzzle or like a doctor who heals a patient. Once we finish the restoration of we put the sculpture