High Museum to exhibit Terracotta warriors from China

<p>First it was the Louvre, then Renaissance Florence, now imperial China _ the High Museum of Art has announced it will host another set of masterpieces, several life-size statues from China's famed Terracotta Army.</p><p>The 2,200-year-old army _ buried around the tomb of Emperor Qin Shihuangdi, who ruled from 221-210 B.C. _ was one of the greatest archaeological finds of modern times.</p><p>The Terracotta Army warriors _ assembled to guard Qin's tomb during his afterlife _ were discovered more than 30 years ago by peasants from a local commune who were sinking wells.</p><p>More than 1,000 life-size figures were found, representing the Emperor's army and including officers, horses, archers, and chariots. Thousands more could still be unearthed.</p><p>The discovery has turned Xian, now the capital of Shaanxi Province in western China, into one of the nation's major tourist attractions. Xian is about 660 miles southwest of Beijing.</p><p>No two soldiers in the Terracotta Army are alike. Each of the sand-colored statues has a different facial expression and hair style, and craftsmen are believed to have modeled them after a real army.</p><p>The exhibit will include 23 statues of warriors, horses and other figures, as well as weapons and musical instruments lent from various collections in the Shaanxi Province.</p><p>The exhibit is tentatively scheduled to be in Atlanta from November 2008 to April 2009. The objects in the exhibit will also be on view at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana, Calif., and the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Texas.</p><p>The High is also the first of three stops in the United States for an iconic masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance that has never left Florence. Three panels from the eastern doors of the Baptistery, called "Gates of Paradise," will be on view starting on Saturday.</p><p>The museum is also in the first of a three-year partnership with the Louvre in Paris.</p><p>____</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cdc7d8)</p>

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