Museum of bronze chariots, horses from Qin Dynasty opens to public

A museum exhibiting bronze chariots and horses excavated near the mausoleum of China's first emperor opened to the public on Tuesday in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province.

The museum features two bronze horse-drawn chariots -- an authentic piece and a replica one.

The bronze chariot drawn by four horses was unearthed in 1980 near the mausoleum of Emperor Qinshihuang of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), who unified China for the first time. Another bronze horse-drawn chariot was also excavated at the same time, which is on display in an exhibition hall of Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum.

They were found broken in some 3,000 pieces and it took cultural relics experts eight years to restore the items.

The new museum consists of three exhibition halls to showcase the valuable cultural relics, scenes of their discovery, excavation and restoration, and the ancient art of sculpture and colored drawing.

Besides traditional exhibition methods, the museum has adopted digital technologies to give visitors an interactive experience to better view the bronze chariots and horses as well as understand their structure, use and craftsmanship, said Dang Shixue with the newly opened museum.

The museum began trial operation in May.