In Naples the great international exhibition of the Terracotta Army, the group of statues guarding the mausoleum of the first Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huangdi.
From the 24 October 2017 at the 28 January 2018 at 5 on August 2018 in Naples you can admire an artistic and cultural work of extraordinary beauty and significant historical value: the Terracotta Army. The immense work was set up near the sixteenth century Basilica of the Holy Spirit in via Toledo which, for the occasion, has reopened its spaces to the public. It includes 170 life-size soldiers that were made from the original casts used only once for the Army present in China.
THETerracotta Army represents one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of our century and since 1987 has been included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It was the former French president Jacques Chirac who recognized, in the 1987, the Terracotta Army as well the Eighth Wonder of the World.
The Terracotta Army: 170 life-size warriors
The Terracotta Army is a set of statues symbolically placed to guard the mausoleum of the first Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huangdi (260 BC - 210 BC) and intended to serve it in the afterlife. The emperor wanted his trusted army to protect him even after his death and ordered the exact reproduction of all his components, with whom he completed his mission to unify China at the time.
The statuary group is in fact composed of 170 life-size terracotta warriors, all different from each other for facial expressions, postures and dimensions, demonstrating the great skill of the others 720mila craftsmen and Chinese workers of Xi'An who used the rare and only still existing casts to create the large statues. The soldiers are all equipped with weapons of war, armor, pottery, chariots, and objects of art and everyday life discovered in the ancient necropolis.
The first national exhibition in Naples in the Basilica of the Holy Spirit
The exhibition, in the first National in Naples, is set up in the evocative setting of the Basilica of the Holy Spirit and represents the most complete and largest exhibition (well 1.800 square meters) dedicated to the Terracotta Army, the Chinese Necropolis and the life of the First Emperor.
Visitors can admire a perfect reproduction, made by skilled Chinese artisans, of the entire group of statues, with all the spectacular and realism of the decorations of the over 300 pieces including statues, weapons, armor and objects of daily life. The individual statues of the terracotta soldiers are reproduced directly from the originals in every detail thanks to casts, now very precious, which it was possible to apply only once, the same ones used more than two thousand years ago to make the original Terracotta Army.
But the public can also immerse themselves in a real one China travel of 2.200 years Thanks to the large video projections, audio guides and interactive areas that tell the story of the necropolis and the First Emperor, its army, military conquests, the construction process of the Terracotta Army, the Emperor's tomb and the archaeological excavations , surrounded by fascinating light and audiovisual suggestions.
La choice of Naples and the Basilica of the Holy Spirit as the national premiere of the exhibition was not accidental. The curators of the exhibition said they had chosen Naples as their first Italian stop for one reason in particular: "There are extraordinary points of contact between the Neapolitan and Chinese tradition, especially in the cult of statues. They could only start from here ”. Also we must not forget the strong link between the city of Naples and the cult of the dead, very similar culturally and spiritually to that of ancient China which is concretized precisely in the construction of the mausoleum. The suggestive Basilica of the historical center, again according to the editors, would recall the same sacredness of the Mausoleum which houses the army in China.
Information on the exhibition The Terracotta Army
When: from 24 October 2017 till at the 28 January 2018 at 5 on August 2018
Timetables: every day, from Monday to Sunday from 10 to 20. Last entry 19 hours
Price tickets:
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Adults: 12 euro
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Reduced students (14-26 years students), over 65, disabled: 10 euro
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Reduced children and young people (from 4 to 13 years): 8 euro
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Free: up to 3 years
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Family from 4: 2 adults + 2 children: 32 euro
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Family from 5: 2 adults + 3 Children: 38 euro
