When we were in Chicago in May, we happened to see advertisements for a special exhibit at The Field Museum, China's First Emperor and His Terracotta Warriors. I've long been fascinated by this amazing creation, and we decided to make seeing it a priority on our next trip. We were not disappointed. China's first emperor commissioned the creation of an entire underground empire made from terracotta to guard his mausoleum. It is estimated that there are over 8,000 life size terracotta figures in the area surrounding his mausoleum. The Field Museum has a small collection of those warriors, archers, chariots, and horses on display with other artifacts from that time period (475-221 BC.) I would love to see them in person, but that's highly unlikely, so I was delighted to have time to explore this exhibit. Emperor Qin Shihuan (247-221 BC) was also responsible for the building of the Great Wall of China. Should I ever visit China, those two sites would be high on my bucket list. Here's a peek at the exhibit.
In the photo on the bottom left, behind the terracotta soldiers, you can see a photo of a part of the underground empire. I had no idea that the area that is open to visitors in China is just a fraction of the emperor's tomb. The actual tomb has yet to be excavated.
Afterwards, we spent over an hour in the Evolving Planet exhibit, but we just touched the surface of all there is to see in this fabulous museum.
This was one of many highlights of our week in Chicago. Sarah's Installation was one, of course, and so was my meeting with Alexandra from Art, Scrap, and More. I discovered Alexandra's blog through Sian at From High in the Sky. I love how bloggers connect with one another, and meeting Alexandra in person was such a delight! Next week I'll be sharing another highlight of our day in the Windy City for SNAP.