Heritage Malta yesterday opened a prestigious exhibition of a selection of artefacts from the Chinese terracotta army at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.

The exhibition Silent Warriors – The Chinese Terracotta Soldiers is organised by Heritage Malta and Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau in collaboration with the Tourism and Culture Ministry, the Malta Embassy for the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Cultural Centre in Malta.

It consists of 82 original artefacts, including 11 terracotta soldiers, two horses, a number of bronze and pottery cooking utensils, personal ornaments, weapons, coins, terracotta animals and other items excavated in the last 30 years.

The army of 7,000 Chinese terracotta soldiers is one of the most sensational archaeological finds of all times and one of the great wonders of the world. Like the megalithic temples of Malta, Hal Saflieni Hypogeum and Valletta, the mausoleum of the first Chinese emperor is listed by Unesco as a World Heritage Site.

The collection of life-size terracotta figures of warriors and horses located near the mausoleum of the first Qin emperor was meant to accompany the emperor after death, and the soldiers stand ready for battle, complete with armour and chariots.

After having guarded its emperor for 2,200 years, the terracotta army was discovered accidentally in 1974 by some farmers who were digging for a new well. Although the farmers were completely unaware of the magnitude of their discovery, the find immediately caught the attention of archaeologists, who have been working on the site ever since.

Today, nearly two million people visit the site annually.