Liverpools’s World Museum on William Brown Street plays host to the exhibition China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors until October 28th. You can visit the museum’s website here
Qin Shi Huang was China’s first Emperor and when he died aged 49 in 220BC he was buried in a huge mausoleum that had reportedly taken over 700,000 men to build. The huge construction lay undiscovered until the spring of 1974 when farmers digging wells for irrigation came upon it by chance. Subsequent excavations revealed an enormous army of warriors, some 8000 in number, made from terracotta. Much of the site of the mausoleum has yet to be excavated.
The purpose of the warriors was to look after and protect the Emperor in the afterlife. He was buried with everything he could possibly need, including chariots and many everyday objects such as cauldrons and drinking vessels.
In total the exhibition has around 180 artefacts, including 10 warriors, which span 1000 years of Chinese history.
The Golden Horse of Maoling was discovered in 1981 in the mausoleum of Emperor Wu.
As you can imagine the exhibition is very popular and admission is by timed entry to control numbers and give visitors plenty of opportunity to see the exhibits. It is advisable to book tickets well in advance. You can do so using this link
The exhibition makes a great activity as part of a visit to the city. If you have limited time an hour should be all you need to get round the exhibits.