Terra Cotta Warriors

Yesterday we made a trip into the city to see the Terra Cotta Warriors from Ancient China.  For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, here is a blurb about the special exhibit we saw:

Soldiers. Charioteers. Archers. Musicians. Generals. Acrobats. Nearly 2,000 years ago, thousands of life-size clay figures were buried in massive underground pits to accompany China's first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, into the afterlife. Their discovery outside the city of Xi'an in 1974 is one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century.

Now, you can stand face-to-face with these terra cotta warriors. In November 2009, National Geographic Museum will host Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China’s First Emperor, an exhibition featuring treasures from the tomb complex including 15 life-size figures, weapons, armor, coins, and more. Don't miss this chance to see the largest collection of significant artifacts from China ever to travel to the United States.

I wanted to see these since I used to teach about them when I taught Ancient China in my 3rd grade classes.  My Dad wanted to see them because he has been to China a few times and is interested in its history.  My mom and Kira tagged along for the outing.  Kira was definitely the smallest visitor in the extremely quiet and serious exhibit hall, but she was very well behaved.  Her favorite part of the museum was the gift shop and its abundance of stuffed animals.  We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but they did have a replica of one warrior outside that we tried to have Kira pose with.

[caption id="attachment_1513" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="All I want to do is run!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1514" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="One of the 4 Uncovered Pits - holding over 6,000 figures"][/caption]