The No.2 pit of the famed terra-cotta warriors excavated around
the Mausoleum of Qinshihuang, the First Emperor of China's Qin
Dynasty (221 B.C.-206 B.C.), was closed to visitors for almost six
months of repair work from Thursday.
A spokesman with Emperor Qin's Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses
Museum said leaks had been found in places in the roof of the shed
over the pit.
"When it rains, the water comes in although we have time and
again asked experts to mend the leaks, so we decided to close the
pit and repair the roof," said the spokesman.
However, the only part of the pit affected by the leaks was the
unexcavated part.
More than 2,000 relics have been found in the No.2 pit. The
warriors unearthed there have striking features, brightly painted,
and are mounted on horses or kneeling like archers.
The shed over the No.2 pit was built in 1988 and the pit was
opened to visitors in October 1994.
The spokesman said it would reopen before May next year. During
the repairs, all the relics unearthed will be transferred to the
cultural relics exhibition hall of the Emperor Qin's Terra Cotta
Warriors and Horses Museum.
Thirty-four items from an exhibition room near the No. 2 pit
have already been removed to the exhibition hall of the museum,
where they were on public display. They included a dozen sets of
terra-cotta warriors and horses.
Relics that could not be removed from the pit were covered with
bamboo mats, said Qian Jing, deputy curator of the museum;
The pit still contained four formations of warriors and horses,
most of which were still beneath the soil, and only a small portion
of the pit was excavated, said Qian.
The warriors being unearthed there were shattered.
"We have deliberately chosen to carry out the repairs during the
November to April period which is a slack season for visitors, and
I don't think the repairs will affect tourism much," said Qian.
Qian said the exhibition hall of the museum, where the 34 relics
from the No.2 pit are on display, alongside a picture featuring the
interior of the No.2 pit.
Wen Hongjun, from central China's Hunan Province, who was
visiting the museum on Thursday, said he was a bit disappointed at
the closure of the No.2 pit. "I should have been informed of the
closure, but it seemed to receive little publicity on the
Internet."
Situated in Lintong, a county about 37 km north of Xi'an,
capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, the imperial
mausoleum was discovered by a group of farmers in 1974 as they were
digging an irrigation well.
Archaeologists found 181 major tombs, including the famous
terra-cotta warriors and horses pits and unearthed about 1,500
statues from the three surrounding pits. The warriors and horses
were believed to have been buried with the emperor to guard him
after his death.
The No.1 pit, which forms the three angles of a triangle is the
biggest, followed in size by the No.2 and No.3 pits.
The mausoleum was included the World Heritage List of UNESCO in
1987.
Despite international interest in the underground palace,
archaeologists suspended excavations in 2003 as they could not
protect relics from environmental degradation. So far, only 1,500
terra-cotta warriors and horses have been unearthed, and almost
6,000 items are believed to still lie buried.
(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2007)