The London Traveler

Specifically, a number of the famed “Terracotta warriors,” recently discovered after being buried with the First Emperor of China, are now on exhibition at the British Museum in London.

The First Emperor of China was buried with an estimated 7,000 of these Terracotta Warriors, though only 1,000 have been excavated until now. From now until the spring, 20 of them have been sent to the British Museum for a special exhibition. This is the largest group to ever leave China, and the display has been described as “spellbinding” by the Times. Click on the link for a well-written and persuasive article why you should go see this event!

In order to put on the exhibition, the British Museum has transformed the famous Round Reading Room at the center of the museum. Until now it’s been left preserved as a museum of what the British Library used to be (until it moved), where you can see the desk at which Karl Marx studied and wrote. In a bold stroke, the museum has transformed this room for the Terracotta display. (Great care has been taken so that the Reading Room will be restored when the Terracotta display is done.) It is a measure of how unique and important this exhibition is to the museum that they’ve transformed such an important part of the museum to properly host it.

This is highly recommended!

Dates: Now until April 6, 2008.
Cost: £12. Tickets are for a specific time.
Ticket details: You can book online by clicking here. Alternately, 500 tickets are released daily at 9:45 am at the Ticket Desk in the British Museum Great Court. Though I haven’t heard any details on the queue, I would recommend showing up early to get tickets.

Where: British Museum
Getting there: The museum is near the eastern end of Oxford Street. Convenient Tube stations include Tottenham Court Road, Holborn, Goode Street and Russell Square. (Central, Picadilly, and Northern Lines.)

Restrictions: Cameras and Mobile Phones are NOT permitted in the exhibition.

Photos from Flickr and China.org.

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