What is the Terracotta Army Exhibit?

I%26#39;ve read posts about the Terracotta Army exhibit at the Pinacotheque, and have gone to the Pinacotheque website, but I still don%26#39;t know what this is. Can anybody explain? I know it%26#39;s highly recommended to get tickets ahead of time, and am trying to figure out if we want to go (2 adults, 2 girls 13 and 16). One post said there was not a lot of information posted about the exhibit, is this true? What are they supposed to symbolize? I had never heard of this til these recent posts.

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…timesonline.co.uk/tol/…article2440830.ece

%26quot;...the remarkable accumulation of life-sized clay figures of soldiers with which the First Emperor decided to be buried. Their discovery, in 1974, by a farmer digging his well is described here as the greatest archeological find of the 20th century. By being buried in the ground with his army, the First Emperor hoped to continue in the afterlife what he had proved himself to be so good at in this one: conquering. The idea was that his terracotta army would give him the power in the spirit world that he already enjoyed on earth.

The site where the terracotta army was found, around the First Emperor’s tomb in Xi’an, China, is said to contain at least 7,000 of these clay soldiers, arranged in military formation and ready to fight again for their ruler. So far, only 1,000 or so have been excavated...%26quot;

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I saw a small version of this exhibit in Santa Barbara a few years ago. It took your breath away, the detail of these statues was unbelievable. One very cool thing was the relative sizes of the soldiers and the officers. The generals were 10%26#39; tall, the soldiers just under life size. Amazing when you realize these statues were buried for at least a thousand years before being excavated.

There are also horses and chariots with incredible detail.

I%26#39;ve heard the statues will be re-buried one of these days, so don%26#39;t miss a chance to see them.

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This is to be seen in Xian, China. An amazing archeological site unearthed not too long ago.

Have not been to Pinacotheque yet but only a few pieces are shown, lines are long -even with prebooked tickets- and Pinacotheque is a rather small place. I could have imagined this exhibit at Grand Palais for example.

You can get advance tickets at Fnac (Fnac.com).

If you are in Paris for a short visit, I would recommend you see more typically French art. L%26#39;Orangerie, Le Musee d%26#39;Orsay and of course Le Louvre are wonderful.

Right now Cluny (medieval art) and Guimet (for oriental art) are free till June 30th. That%26#39;s an other idea for things to do in Paris, Have a great time!

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