The president of the Provincial Council of Alicante, Carlos Mazón, and the Chinese ambassador to Spain, Wu Haitao, have highlighted the cooperation between the two countries to bring the exhibition 'The legacy of the Quin and Han dynasties, China. The Warriors of Xi'an' to the Archaeological Museum of Alicante (Marq), where it will last from March 29 to January 2024.
This sample is “unique in the world”, as corroborated by the curator, Dr. Marcos Martinón-Torres, professor and professor of Archaeological Science at the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), who has also anticipated that a bilingual book will be published – in Spanish and English - with hitherto unknown aspects of this thousand-year-old legacy of Asian culture, discovered thanks to new technologies and DNA tests.
In total, there are 120 original pieces and sets from recently created Chinese museums and institutions that respond to a "careful selection" of part of their funds and collections to be exhibited. They have participated in institutional and academic museums of enormous international prestige and which preserve collections of great archaeological, historical and artistic value, testimony of the material culture of ancient China, according to their coordinators.
Ticket reservation
“After four years of waiting, we were able to say 'finally!' in Fitur and now we say 'there's less left', an exciting moment is coming”, Mazón stressed, after announcing that as of this Wednesday, March 8, tickets for the exhibition can already be reserved.
"'The Warriors of Xi'an' come after having finished the 'Gladiators', although Alicante is anything but a bellicose town, it is calm, but it has fought and has the capacity to overcome", according to the president of the Provincial Council, in reference to the other stellar exhibition that has been in Alicante recently.
After the inauguration on March 28, hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected over the next ten months, according to Mazón, who has highlighted the "rigorous preparation" underway to "keep up with the content that is coming «. In his opinion, today is "a day of great joy and expectation, and the Spanish and visiting public will enjoy it", in addition to the fact that this achievement has been the result of "collaboration, understanding and patience, with everything that has happened in these years", he pointed out, after evoking the memory of the coronavirus pandemic and the floods in Alicante, which occurred during the four years of contacts for this exhibition.
"Now we have to get all the juice from the cultural, tourist point of view and the relationship between the two countries," he added.
“It will remain in the annals of history”
A few minutes earlier, the Chinese ambassador had also expressed his "confidence that with the efforts of both parties, the exhibition will be a complete success and will remain in the annals of the history of relations between the two countries" and will allow "increasing the collaboration” between both States. "Chinese civilization reaches our days after the ups and downs of more than 5.000 years", recorded Haitao, with special interest in the contribution of these archaeological pieces to disseminate how "mutations developed in a great State after its unification, and its bases were imitated by later civilizations.
He has also established a parallel between "the ancient silk route, which linked China with the Spanish Mediterranean coast" and this initiative in which "museums will now unite both places once again."
"I note with satisfaction being able to show these treasures of Chinese civilization and bring the wonderful stories they bring to the Spanish public", the ambassador added, in addition to emphasizing that "on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations, the two countries celebrate a year of culture and both have maintained the aspiration of mutual respect and friendly coexistence with different structures”.
unpublished material
For her part, the vice-president of the Alicante Provincial Council, Julia Parra, highlighted that it is "one of the cultural events of the year in Spain and also in Europe, since few museums in the world have had the opportunity to exhibit the legacy of the Terracotta Warriors", in addition to the fact that the Chinese authorities "have trusted the Marq, for his safety, since prestige cannot be improvised, you have to have a lot of faith and revalidate each achievement with a note"
Projection of an audiovisual to recreate the exhibition at the Marq on March 29. abc
In this first exhibition of this "caliber" in Europe, some of the 120 pieces have left China for the first time, and the maximum number of originals that the Chinese authorities allow on Chinese soil. As examples, he has cited a "spectacular replica" of a combat body or the collection of bronze and jade pieces.
The presentation has included the projection of a virtual recreation of a visit to the exhibition, to see the spaces, it has been carried out at the Cultural Center of China in Madrid, whose director, Changing Yang, has stated that the work on this project has created a "permanent platform for dialogues and meetings, on the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Spain", in addition to providing "a very valuable opportunity to bring Chinese culture closer to Spain".
He also recalled that it is "the eighth wonder of the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site".
The curator of the sample, in a more detailed description of the cultural and archaeological value of the sample, has announced that his visit will have additional incentives such as an "immersive experience" to find out how this legacy could be created, why an army of ceramics To his tomb, how to consolidate the longest-lived empire of its time, how to make a hundred-kilo bronze container where a terracotta war was made, what it originally looked like before losing the paint that covered it.
"The Marq team gave me the challenge of an exhibition, the warriors are at the center, but it covers a thousand years of unique history," Martinón-Torres stressed, thanking the more than 200 people who have worked to make it possible, with the interest for the public that loves archaeology, history and art, "and also that wants visitors to discover new aspects of the past and present".
In addition to the warriors themselves, there are other figures such as stable attendants and the time frame has been stretched, up to 700 years before the first emperor and 500 years later, with a second Terracotta army that imitated the first, and lesser-known pieces such as bells and lithophones, or the first hollow bronze sculpture.
