The Archaeological Museum of the Diputación de Alicante (Alicante Provincial Council) and the MARQ Foundation have announced the agreement reached in the last few days with the Shaanxi and Xi'an museumswith the agreement of the Chinese authorities, to exhibit the exhibition 'The Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an. Eternal Guardians of the First Emperor' in Alicante from 1 April to 31 December 2022.
The First Vice-President, Julia Parrahas confirmed that, after a period of negotiations, carried out through the Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Centre, the proposal put forward by the Culture Department of the Alicante Provincial Council has been accepted. rescheduling the arrival of the sample and extend its public exhibition period from 6 to 9 months.as the central exhibition for the coming year.
The deputy thanked the Chinese authorities and museums "for understanding and sharing the reasons that led us to take this decision, which aims to reduce the impact of the pandemic restrictions on such an important cultural event for our province".
The head of Culture has shown herself to be in favour of "offering the best context so that the greatest number of visitors can enjoy this exhibition, both from the Valencian Community and from other communities, something that we could not guarantee if the initially planned period, from June to December 2021, were to be maintained due to the current restrictions on mobility between Europe and China".
Parra assured that this agreement renews the cooperation maintained by all the parties involved in the project and remarked that "we are strengthening our commitment to make this exceptional exhibition a reality available to the general public, in the hope that in 2022 the evolution of the international pandemic will allow it".
The director of the museum, Manuel Olcinathe managing director of the MARQ Foundation, José Alberto Cortésand the Foundation's director of exhibitions, Jorge SolerThe new dates, which will be submitted to the MARQ Board of Trustees for consideration at its next meeting later this month, have confirmed that a new opportunity has been created to prepare the exhibition in greater detail.
Those in charge of the MARQ technical team have pointed out that the modification of the dates is great news that they wanted to make public after months of intense work, in view of the international situation generated by the evolution of Covid-19. According to Cortés, "in the communications received at the beginning of April, we were informed of the difficulties in being able to travel and begin the packing and transport work planned".
For his part, Manuel Olcina explained that "from a technical point of view, it is a prudent decision in these circumstances given the size of the Xi'an exhibition in a national and European context". Jorge Soler also confirmed that "there is a great deal of work done with great professionalism that we will be able to take advantage of next year".
The exhibition will bring to the MARQ an exceptional collection of about 160 pieces of material culture from ancient Chinaincluding nine original Terracotta warriors and one Terracotta horse (the maximum number authorised by the Chinese government to be displayed in international exhibitions). The artefacts, from the First Qin Emperor's Mausoleum Museum, were declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 and this will be the first time they have left China after the pandemic.
A new exhibition
On the other hand, the Head of Culture, together with the heads of the MARQ, has announced that a proposal will be submitted to the Board of Trustees for the organisation of a new temporary international exhibition on the people Etruscan. In this regard, Parra explained that she first steps have been taken to bring this exhibition to the museum in the second half of the year.
The director of the Museum, Manuel Olcina, confirmed that "the work is well underway and we are very excited to formalise the agreements reached to make this new exhibition a reality, in which we will be able to count on with collections from the National Archaeological Museum in Florence and from the Mario Guarnacci Museum in Volterra.".
