The MARQ has started today, under the supervision of a delegation of technicians from China, the dismantling and packaging of the more than 120 parts that have made up the exhibition 'The Legacy of the Qin and Han Dynasties, China. The warriors of Xi'an". which in the last ten months has been exhibited in the Alicante museum, with a record number of visitors. 280,682 visitors.
The President of the Provincial Council, Toni PérezThis morning, he also visited the museum to check on the work being carried out in a coordinated manner by the archaeologists from the MARQ Foundation and the four Chinese specialists who made up the delegation. and which focus on supervising, checking and cataloguing the condition of the pieces which have formed part of the exhibition and which were loaned to the Alicante museum by different museums and departments in China. The total dismantling of the exhibition is expected to take until 8 February.
"Today we have a bittersweet taste after closing to the public and starting the dismantling of The Warriors of Xi'an, an exhibition that has delighted thousands of Alicante residents and many tourists and that has marked a turning point in the history of the museum itself", said Pérez, who recalled that the exhibition has registered a historic number of visitors, with more than 280,000 visitors. In this sense, he pointed out that "we have had the enormous luxury of having this exhibition here in Alicante, because we must not forget that the terracotta warriors were created as an army from beyond the grave, never to be seen again".
The dismantling of the exhibition, which is carried out by an company specialising in the transport of works of artThe first of the nine terracotta warriors included in the exhibition, which have become the MARQ's main attraction over the last ten months. After first removing the head of this piece, the workers, under the strict supervision of the Chinese and Alicante archaeologists, proceeded to remove the rest of the body from the display case where it had been exhibited until now.
Each piece has a conservation record - known as a Condition Report - which lists its characteristics. After checking its condition to ensure that it is the same as when it arrived, the packaging and correct placement of the parts in the special transport boxes. with which they will return to China, supervised at all times by both Chinese and Chinese technicians. Yan Juajunfrom the Hanyangling Museum; Ma Yu and An naboth from the Mausoleum of the Qin Emperor, and Shi JiangliuThe Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology, as well as the local ones.
"It is a very delicate job, a surgical task that is required by these pieces, which are World Heritage and therefore have a very high value," said the president, who has valued, in this regard, "the professionalism of the MARQ team and the delegation of Chinese specialists who have travelled for this work of disassembly and transfer. On this point, he explained that a delegation from Alicante, made up of two restorers from the MARQ, is scheduled to travel to China on 24 February to check the pieces at their destination.
Toni Pérez insisted that "we are very happy for a job well done and for the colossal effort of all those who have made this great exhibition possible", and added that "we are already working on the next projects, knowing that the exhibition of The Warriors of Xi'an has marked a before and after for the Archaeological Museum of Alicante".
